Can Brazil stamp out fake news ahead of presidential elections?
| Rio de Janeiro
Whenever a story with a wild headline came her way, Mary Rose Filgueiras Lacerda used to skim it and forward it on without any second thoughts.
But when the eye-popping stories arrived with more frequency on WhatsApp, she got suspicious. 鈥淚 thought, this is strange. It can鈥檛 all be true,鈥� says Ms. Lacerda, a retiree who lives in Divin贸polis, in Brazil鈥檚 Minas Gerais state.
She decided to take action, enrolling in a digital course teaching Brazilians over the age of 50 how to spot fake news. Over five days, daily messages urged her to read beyond the headlines and to double check her sources. Short YouTube videos taught her how to spot fakes and detailed how videos, images, and memes can be doctored.
Why We Wrote This
Fake news has been a global scourge, but Brazilians鈥� heavy use of social media makes them particularly susceptible. Now, Brazil is trying its hand at setting an example for beating back misinformation.
鈥淚 confess I used to forward lots of fake news, because I thought they were true,鈥� Ms. Lacerda says. 鈥淲hat I learned ... showed me we need to stay alert.鈥�
Ms. Lacerda鈥檚 concerns are not misplaced. Fake news and misinformation campaigns have hit Brazil hard over the past five years. And even with Brazil鈥檚 presidential elections still months away in October, fake news about the upcoming election is already spreading across platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and TikTok.
Fake news has been a global scourge in recent years, with online messaging services and social media often overshadowing traditional media as go-to sources of information. The phenomenon has left a profound mark on Brazil, where experts say low education levels, mistrust of institutions, and heavy social media use have created a perfect breeding ground for misinformation.
Brazil is one of the world鈥檚 heaviest users of social media, with about 159 million 鈥� or 75% of the population 鈥� on at least one platform. And the way messages are sent, relying more on voice memos or images overwritten with text, makes them hard to screen en masse. In 2018, a torrent of disinformation favoring President Jair Bolsonaro helped sweep the far-right candidate to a surprise victory.
And although a fresh wave of election disinformation is fueling concerns about Brazil鈥檚 democratic health, the South American giant may also be offering new paths toward combating it. Congress has proposed legislation to curb the spread of fake news. The Supreme Court is trying to force social networks to more effectively police users. Brazil鈥檚 electoral court has struck deals with tech giants to screen out fake news and report those who create it to authorities.
And nongovernmental organizations are working to teach digital literacy and fact-checking, in hopes that with a little help, citizens can identify misinformation and play a central role in stopping its spread in their communities.
鈥淲e end up with multiple versions of the truth out there, circulating,鈥� says Valerie Wirtschafter, a senior data analyst at The Brookings Institution, who studies misinformation in Brazil. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 problematic, because we know that an informed voter is what underpins democracy.鈥�
Who is responsible?
Brazilian lawmakers have wrestled with how to crack down on disinformation for years. And it鈥檚 not just around elections 鈥� misinformation flourished during the pandemic.
Legal efforts culminated in a sweeping legislative proposal known as the 鈥淔ake News Bill,鈥� which seeks to criminalize the spread of fake news and force social media platforms to identify financial backers of such posts. It would also limit the reach of mass messages on platforms like WhatsApp.
But the legislation, first introduced in 2020, has drawn fierce criticism from technology companies, civil society, and free speech advocates. Among its most vocal critics is President Jair Bolsonaro, who is himself under federal investigation for spreading misinformation on social media during the pandemic 鈥� including false claims that COVID-19 vaccines might raise the chance of contracting AIDS.聽
鈥淭he bill is not perfect, but it鈥檚 a good start,鈥� says Felipe Nunes, a political scientist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais who studies public opinion and social media. 鈥淚t has been met with a lot of resistance though.鈥�
Last month, the bill suffered a major blow when Congress rejected an attempt to fast-track it, making the bill unlikely to advance before October鈥檚 vote.
Mr. Bolsonaro is facing off against former President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva this fall. Mr. Silva, known widely as Lula, is with 45% of the vote, to Mr. Bolsonaro鈥檚 31%.
Last year, Mr. Bolsonaro unsuccessfully tried to ban social media platforms from removing content and users. But platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have taken down videos of him promoting unproven 鈥渕iracle cures鈥� for COVID-19 and 聽about 2018 election fraud.
Even if legislation criminalizing fake news advances, it may be difficult to implement because it would require global tech giants to usher in sweeping policy changes.
But the power of Brazil鈥檚 courts in forcing the hand of tech platforms became evident earlier this year, when a Supreme Court judge banned Telegram after Brazil鈥檚 federal police had repeatedly tried to get in touch with the platform to request the removal of what it deemed dangerous聽content. The messaging app then came around, signing on to rules governing misinformation set out by electoral officials.
鈥淲e will only reach a solution when platforms are made responsible for identifying and helping authorities to criminally punish those who produce fake news,鈥� says Mr. Nunes.
New challenges
For the fake news machine churning out false information, the pandemic proved a boon.
Producers of misleading content were able to hone their craft, says S茅rgio L眉dtke, who leads the , a monitoring collective made up of 40 Brazilian media outlets and funded by Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
鈥淚t was almost like a training ground for them in what works and what doesn鈥檛,鈥� Mr. L眉dtke says.
Those spreading disinformation are growing more sophisticated, experts say. False messages have become increasingly subtle in how they convey their version of the news, omitting context or inviting misinterpretation instead of offering up overtly fabricated storylines. Brazilians fall for fake news more than their counterparts in other countries battling misinformation such as the United States and Italy, a , with 73% believing at least one false claim during the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer necessary to invent a whole new narrative鈥� when spreading misinformation, says Mr. L眉dtke. 鈥淚t鈥檚 enough to raise doubt, to suggest a link that isn鈥檛 there, and to let people draw a false conclusion.鈥�
This is making the work of initiatives like Comprova more painstaking. The group is currently running the in which Ms. Lacerda and upwards of 2,200 others took part, in hopes of teaching Brazilians who didn鈥檛 grow up as digital natives how to spot fake news. 鈥淲e have to figure out how people are interpreting this misleading information and then deconstruct that narrative,鈥� Mr. L眉dtke says.聽
False information tends to bolster the beliefs of voters who have already picked sides, not necessarily change someone鈥檚 position, a聽 led by Mr. Nunes found.
鈥淔ake news doesn鈥檛 serve to manipulate people鈥檚 opinions,鈥� he says. It 鈥渟erves to engage and mobilize people in electoral processes. ... It鈥檚 election gold.鈥�
Standing up to disinformation
Despite the vast presence of fake news, those trying to fight the phenomenon are feeling hopeful. Ariel Freitas works for Voz das Comunidades, a favela-based news organization that is actively fighting election disinformation.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing all kinds of efforts to ... trick people,鈥� Mr. Freitas says, whose team creates fact-checking posts to share on social media and Voz das Comunidades鈥� mobile app. But 鈥渨e are much better prepared than we were in 2018.鈥�
For one, grassroots journalists and activists have fine-tuned their skills, he says, improving how they monitor misinformation and reach people via social media who may not watch, read, or listen to traditional news outlets.
Voz das Comunidades is about to launch an elections-specific fact-checking project that will verify the claims of candidates and send out push notifications warning about false information making the rounds on messaging apps and social media.
鈥淲e鈥檙e stronger now. We can stand up to the disinformation,鈥� Mr. Freitas adds.聽
