The article discusses the phenomenon of information distortions in the digital age, as well as the features of communication in online social networks that create new opportunities for the spread of such distortions. The authors present an analytical review of the current English-language literature on this issue and identify the main existing research trends. The specificity of understanding fake news in the digital age, the forms of their construction and distribution using social bots are considered. Particular attention is paid to the description of methods for detecting fakes and bots in social networks. The prospects for studying this subject for the sociology of communications are outlined.