Disseminating Fake News Through Translation: Critical and Ethical Concerns

Authors

  • Sami Abdullah Hamdi

    Department of Foreign Languages, Jazan University, Jazan 82825-001, Saudi Arabia
  • Vipin Kumar Sharma

    Department of Foreign Languages, Jazan University, Jazan 82825-001, Saudi Arabia
  • Wael Ali Holbah

    Department of Foreign Languages, Jazan University, Jazan 82825-001, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i8.9823
Received: 1 May 2025 | Revised: 29 May 2025 | Accepted: 10 June 2025 | Published Online: 30 July 2025

Abstract

Misinformation has been a global challenge for information and news exchange. Recognizing such a challenge, the UN has expressed concerns about the consequences of misinformation. Unfortunately, the problem is exacerbated when international news is subjected to deliberate modification or interference during translation culminating in reproducing fake news into the target language. The phenomenon has developed more with the spread of fake news in recent years. It is worth noting that the Arabic translation of some foreign news is significantly modified though widely spread especially in social networks. Such a situation requires serious attention to help control misleading news translation. This study addressed the spread of fake news through translation from a critical and ethical perspective. To this end, a set of original news stories and their corresponding manipulated or modified versions in Arabic were collected and examined. The modification strategies were investigated in light of Bielsa and Bassnett’s (2009) news translation strategies, followed by a critical discourse analysis using the sociocognitive approach proposed by van Dijk (2014, 2015). The results uncovered manipulation strategies such as Hyperbolization, negative other-presentation, framing, and blame transfer. The relevant ethical issues were stressed to raise awareness of translation ethics as a core principle in translation. The study outcomes are useful for researchers and the concerned public and private organizations as a first step toward developing tools to counter the proliferation of fake news through translation.

Keywords:

News Translation; Translation Strategies; Manipulating Translation; Fake News

References

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How to Cite

Hamdi, S. A., Sharma, V. K., & Holbah, W. A. (2025). Disseminating Fake News Through Translation: Critical and Ethical Concerns. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(8), 279–290. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i8.9823

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 8 (August 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Sami Abdullah Hamdi, Vipin Kumar Sharma, Wael Ali Holbah

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.