Identity-based digital deception in “visual-poverty” livestreams: A multimodal analysis

This study examines the emerging phenomenon of digital deception in “visual poverty” livestreams, with a particular focus on the strategic construction of fake identities. Drawing on a multimodal discourse analysis of livestream interactions, this study identifies three interrelated forms of fake identities: attribute identity, relational identity, and image identity. Of these, image identity emerges as the dominant mode of self-presentation, sustained and reinforced by the other two. These identities are further mediated through three key linguistic strategies: grammatical strategy, pragmatic strategy, and non-verbal strategy. The analysis demonstrates how livestream hosts deploy such strategies to shape viewer perceptions and build deceptive credibility. This study also discusses the challenges of detecting such identity manipulation in real-time mediated interactions and offers theoretical insights and practical implications for understanding and addressing digital deception.