Countering disinformation in Latin America

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#AlertaVenezuela

As the information environment continues to expand and transform at an ever-accelerating rate, monitoring the digital engagement space with an approach that actively informs this environment, as opposed to responding to it, is increasingly necessary. #AlertaVenezuela is paving the way for a deeper understanding of the complexities of the information environment in and around Venezuela. By exposing and explaining disinformation in this context, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with civil society and independent media organizations working on Venezuela, will shed light on the path ahead for combating disinformation and foreign interference around one of the hemisphere’s largest economic, political and humanitarian crises.

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Recent #AlertaVenezuela analyses

Venezuelan fringe websites impersonate media outlets on Facebook

Two recently created websites that routinely publish anti-Maduro content — Alexsnews.com and Sharesocial.app — appeared to have used inauthentic assets on Facebook to amplify their material. These assets (one fan page and two groups) impersonated well-known Spanish-language news outlets, such as CNN en Español.

Operation Copy/Paste: Twitter network artificially amplified anti-Guaidó hashtags

A Twitter network used random text, including poems, song lyrics, and Wikipedia entries, to amplify hashtags against Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó on Twitter. The network’s actions suggested they engaged in inauthentic behavior to make the hashtags seem more popular and organic than they were, in an attempt to manipulate trending topics on Twitter.

Maduro’s attempt to exploit coronavirus outbreak backfires on social media

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro falsely claimed on February 27 that COVID-19 might be a strain created for biological warfare against China as part of a Western plot to halt the country’s economic growth, but the resulting traffic online focused more heavily on the dismal state of the country’s healthcare system.

Past work on disinformation in Latin America

The Digital Forensic Research Lab and Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center—in partnership with local think thanks, media, and fact-checking organizations—worked to identify, expose, and explain disinformation in the lead-up to elections in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil in 2018 and 2019. The cross-border effort supported democratic institutions and fostered digital resilience through engagement and capacity-building. The Atlantic Council will continue monitoring disinformation in elections to strengthen digital resilience around elections. Check out the #ElectionWatch Latin America work.

Disinformation in democracies

#ElectionWatch Latin America

Likes from Afar in Oaxaca

Inauthentic activity originating from South Asian Facebook accounts artificially inflated the number of Facebook “likes” on social media content for and about the Government of the State of Oaxaca in México.

Partisan Debate and Electoral Violence in Brazil

On October 7, a few hours after the polls closed in Brazil and a runoff between the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad was announced, capoeira master Moa do Katende was stabbed to death in a bar.

Claims of Electronic Voting Fraud Circulate in Brazil

Ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on October 7 vote, false narratives about electronic voting fraud have spiked and deepened mistrust as citizens head to the polls. The narrative has been amplified by the far-right frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, who claimed the voting system is rigged in favor of the leftist Worker’s Party (PT).

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