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How misinformation targeted at Latinos could impact coming elections

A recent wave of misinformation targeted at Latino voters, which fuel conspiracy theories, is raising concern about its effect on midterm elections. Critics are calling on Facebook to ramp up efforts to detect misinformation in multiple languages.

First Look

Before last year鈥檚 presidential election, Facebook ads targeting Latino voters described Joe Biden as a communist. During his inauguration, another conspiracy theory spread online and on Spanish-language radio warning that a brooch worn by Lady Gaga signaled Mr. Biden was working with shadowy, leftist figures abroad.

And in the final stretch of Virginia鈥檚 election for governor, stories written in Spanish accused Mr. Biden of ordering the arrest of a man during a school board meeting.

None of that was true. But such misinformation represents a growing threat to Democrats, who are anxious about their standing with Latino voters after surprise losses last year in places like South Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Heading into a midterm election in which control of Congress is at stake, lawmakers, researchers, and activists are preparing for another onslaught of falsehoods targeted at Spanish-speaking voters. And they say social media platforms that often host those mistruths aren鈥檛 prepared.

鈥淔or a lot of people, there鈥檚 a lot of concern that 2022 will be another big wave,鈥� said Guy Mentel, executive director of Global Americans, a think tank that provides analysis of key issues throughout the Americas.

This month鈥檚 elections may be a preview of what鈥檚 to come.

After Democratic incumbent Phil Murphy won New Jersey鈥檚 close governor鈥檚 race, Spanish-language videos falsely claimed the vote was rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud 鈥� a fact the Republican candidate acknowledged, calling the results 鈥渓egal and fair.鈥�

In Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin campaigned successfully on promises to defend 鈥減arental rights鈥� in classrooms, false headlines around a controversial school board meeting emerged.

Virginia's Loudoun County was already the epicenter of a heated political debate over how the history of racism is taught in schools 鈥� another issue that became fodder for misinformation and political attacks on Spanish-language websites this summer, said Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, a nonprofit that mobilizes Hispanics to become politically engaged.

鈥淚t has everything to do with trust in institutions. Trust in government,鈥� said Ms. Kumar, whose group works to combat the misinformation. 鈥淓roding that trust will transfer not just to voting in the midterms, but just overall disengagement from your government.鈥�

Stretched truths accusing some Democrats of being socialists or communists could also dominate the online narrative, said Diego Groisman, a research analyst at New York University鈥檚 Cybersecurity for Democracy project.

During the 2020 election, Mr. Groisman flagged Facebook ads targeting Latino voters in Texas and Florida that described Mr. Biden as a 鈥渃ommunist.鈥� The ads in Florida 鈥� where a majority of the country鈥檚 Venezuelan population is concentrated 鈥� compared Mr. Biden to that country鈥檚 socialist President Nicol谩s Maduro.

鈥淭here were clearly specific Spanish-speaking communities that were being targeted,鈥� said Laura Edelson, the lead researcher for NYU鈥檚 program.

Evelyn P茅rez-Verd铆a, a Florida Democratic strategist who watches Spanish misinformation patterns, says many online narratives intentionally stoke 鈥渇ear in the Spanish-speaking communities.鈥�

One conspiracy theory mentioned on talk radio grew out of Lady Gaga鈥檚 golden bird brooch at Mr. Biden鈥檚 inauguration. Some spreading the claim noted a similar brooch once worn by Claudia L贸pez Hernandez, the first openly gay mayor of Bogot谩, Colombia, signaled the new president was working with foreign leftists.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to stop. They鈥檙e going to double down on it,鈥� Ms. P茅rez-Verd铆a said of the misinformation.

Critics argue that social media companies like Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, have placed outsize attention on removing or fact-checking misinformation in English over other languages like Spanish.

Facebook鈥檚 own documents, leaked by ex-Facebook employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen earlier this year, echo those concerns. Ms. Haugen said the company spends 87% of its misinformation budget on U.S. content 鈥� a figure that Meta spokesperson Kevin McAllister said is 鈥渙ut of context.鈥�

An internal Facebook memo, written in March, revealed the company鈥檚 ability to detect anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation was 鈥渂asically non-existent鈥� in non-English comments.

Last year, for example, Instagram and Facebook banned 鈥�#plandemic,鈥� a hashtag associated with a video full of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Yet users were spreading misinformation on the platforms using 鈥�#plandemia,鈥� the Spanish version of the hashtag, until just last month.

An analysis last year by Avaaz, a left-leaning advocacy group that tracks online misinformation, also found Facebook failed to flag 70% of Spanish-language misinformation surrounding COVID-19 compared to just 29% of such information in English.

Mr. McAllister said the company removes false Spanish-language claims about voter fraud, COVID-19, and vaccines. Four news outlets, including The Associated Press, also fact-check Spanish-language falsehoods circulating around U.S. content on Instagram and Facebook.

Meanwhile, researchers at the nonpartisan Global Disinformation Index estimated that Google will make $12 million this year off ads on websites that peddled COVID-19 disinformation in Spanish. Google has 鈥渟topped serving ads on a majority of the pages shared in the report,鈥� company spokesperson Michael Aciman said in an email.

鈥淪panish-language misinformation campaigns are absolutely exploding on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.,鈥� New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party鈥檚 top progressive voices, tweeted after the Nov. 2 election.

That explosion is fueled in part by a U.S.-Latin America feedback loop that allows falsehoods to fester.

Misinformation that starts on U.S. websites is sometimes translated by social media pages in Latin American countries like Colombia and Venezuela. The inaccuracies are shared back through YouTube videos or messaging apps with Spanish speakers in expatriate communities like those in Miami and Houston.

Those falsehoods are more likely to reach U.S. Latinos because they tend to spend more time on sites such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram, according to an October Nielsen report.

鈥淲e see YouTube accounts or radio stations churning out mis- or disinformation regarding a whole range of things that they pick up from fringe U.S. outlets,鈥� Mr. Mentel said.

Some are working to fill the void of reliable information in those communities.

The Oakland, California, news service El Timpano delivers a text message of local news in Spanish to roughly 2,000 subscribers every week. Subscribers can text back with questions that staffers work to answer, said Madeleine Blair, who launched El Timpano.

The news service has fielded more than 1,500 questions over the past year, including ones about hoax COVID-19 cures.

鈥淲e really ramped up because it was clear that the communities we were serving were most in need of basic public health information,鈥� Ms. Blair said, 鈥渁nd that information wasn鈥檛 reaching them.鈥�

Others have urged the government to take on a watchdog role. Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democrat, said the regulator may look at disparities in how Big Tech monitors English-language disinformation compared to other languages.

鈥淭he first thing I think we need to do is investigate,鈥� Mr. Slaughter said during a November panel with lawmakers.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽AP writers Marcos Mart铆nez Chac贸n in Monterrey, Mexico, Abril Mulato in Mexico City, and Marcy Gordon in Washington contributed to this report.