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Daniel Avelar
Wed 30 Oct 2019 16.00 GMT
The vast majority of false information shared on WhatsApp in Brazil during the presidential
election favoured the far-right winner, Jair Bolsonaro, a Guardian analysis of data suggests.
The analysis sheds light on the spread of misinformation on the Facebook-owned app, with
fears it could be poisoning political debate in one of the largest democracies in the world.
In a sample of 11,957 viral messages shared across 296 group chats on the instant-messaging
platform in the campaign period, approximately 42% of rightwing items contained
information found to be false by factcheckers. Less than 3% of the leftwing messages analysed
in the study contained externally verified falsehoods.
The figures suggest the spread of fake news was highly asymmetrical, accounting for much of
the content being spread by and to Bolsonaro supporters on WhatsApp.
The instant messaging app is very popular in Brazil, with more than 120 million users in a
population of about 210 million people.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/30/whatsapp-fake-news-brazil-election-favoured-jair-bolsonaro-analysis-suggests 1/4
14/03/2020 WhatsApp fake news during Brazil election ‘favoured Bolsonaro’ | World news | The Guardian
Much of the fake news shared on WhatsApp reflected the far-right values promoted by
Bolsonaro’s team during the two-month campaign. Almost all the major rightwing fake news
stories fell into four categories, the analysis reveals:
WhatsApp executives recently acknowledged Brazilian accounts were the target of massive
spamming operations by digital marketing agencies before the election, in a breach of the app’s
terms and conditions.
Inquiries in Brazil’s congress and superior electoral court are examining whether Bolsonaro’s
team was involved in these manipulative efforts. The investigations could potentially lead to
the annulment of the election result.
The Bolsonaro administration denies wrongdoing and has repeatedly dismissed media reports
on the issue as “fake news”.
Facebook, which has been under increasing pressure to do more to tackle misinformation,
announced an update of WhatsApp in January that reduced to the number of times users can
forward a single message to five.
Recent studies suggested the upgrades succeeded in slowing the spread of false content, but
failed to stop fake news reaching large audiences.
He added: “Tech companies have an immense power in their hands, and no one knows
whether or not they are actually capable of influencing election results.”
“WhatsApp has made significant product changes and worked with partners across civil
society to help address the harmful consequences of misinformation,” she said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/30/whatsapp-fake-news-brazil-election-favoured-jair-bolsonaro-analysis-suggests 3/4
14/03/2020 WhatsApp fake news during Brazil election ‘favoured Bolsonaro’ | World news | The Guardian
Topics
Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil
Americas
WhatsApp
Facebook
news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/30/whatsapp-fake-news-brazil-election-favoured-jair-bolsonaro-analysis-suggests 4/4