We investigate the presence (and the influence) of disinformation spreading on online social networks in Italy, in the 5-month period preceding the 2019 European Parliament elections. To this aim we collected a large-scale dataset of tweets associated to thousands of news articles published on Italian disinformation websites. In the observation period, a few outlets accounted for most of the deceptive information circulating on Twitter, which focused on controversial and polarizing topics of debate such as immigration, national safety and (Italian) nationalism. We found evidence of connections between Italian disinformation sources and different disinformation outlets across Europe, U.S. and Russia, featuring similar, even translated, articles in the period before the elections. Overall, the spread of disinformation on Twitter was confined in a limited community, strongly (and explicitly) related to the Italian conservative and far-right political environment, who had a limited impact on online discussions on the up-coming elections.

中文翻译：

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调查2019年欧洲大选背景下在Twitter上传播的意大利虚假信息。

我们调查了在2019年欧洲议会选举之前的5个月内，意大利在线社交网络上散播信息的存在（及其影响）。为了这个目标，我们收集了与意大利虚假信息网站上发布的数千篇新闻文章相关的大规模推文数据集。在观察期内，Twitter上散布的大多数欺骗性信息占少数，这些信息集中于有争议和两极分化的辩论主题，例如移民，国家安全和（意大利）民族主义。我们发现了意大利虚假信息来源与遍布欧洲，美国和俄罗斯的不同虚假信息渠道之间存在联系的证据，这些特征在选举前的时期内具有相似甚至翻译的文章。总体，