For the ‘Subject’ of this issue of Electra we have chosen a topic that is both universal and contemporary: lies. The various contributions trace routes with obligatory stops in politics (Martin Jay), art and images (Peter Hill and Daisy Dixon), the post-truth media regime (Myriam Revault d’Allonnes), the stages of phylogenetic natural history up to the hegemony of technology (António Bracinha Vieira), and the case studies of two Brazilian intellectuals persecuted and threatened by fake news (Bárbara Reis).