Disinformation in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election: An analysis of WhatsApp family groups

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.sep.03

Keywords:

Desinformation, Fake news, Post-truth, Manipulation, Elections, Politics, Polí­tical communication, Social networks, Brazil, WhatsApp.

Abstract

This investigation aims to verify what kind of contents was most shared in WhatsApp family groups during the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaign and which percentage contained false information. The relevance of this study is justified because WhatsApp is a closed app and during the campaign was used as a disinformation channel. There was undertaken a quantitative analysis of 472 publications shared in ten groups. The access to this data was possible thanks to the cooperation of citizens who responded to our invitation to participate in the research. The findings show that image with text still corresponds to the most disseminated content in the groups and that 60% of said publications contained false or partially false information. The discoveries corroborate the existence of a circle of disinformation within WhatsApp users.

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Author Biographies

Joí£o Canavilhas, Universidade da Beira Interior

Joí£o Canavilhas es profesor asociado en la Universidade da Beira Interior (Covilhí£ - PORTUGAL) e investigador en Labcom.IFP -Communication, Philosophy and Humanities. 

Juliana Colussi, Universidad del Rosario

Profesora e investigadora del Programa de Periodismo y Opinión Pública de la Universidad del Rosario (Colombia). Doctora en Periodismo por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (España).

Zita-Bacelar Moura, Universidade da Beira Interior

Zita Bacelar Moura es estudiante de Doctorado en Ciencias de Comunicación en la Universidade da Beira Interior (Portugal) y periodista freelance con Jornal MAPA (Portugal). 

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Published

2019-09-14

How to Cite

Canavilhas, J., Colussi, J., & Moura, Z.-B. (2019). Disinformation in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election: An analysis of WhatsApp family groups. Profesional De La información, 28(5). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.sep.03

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 5 (2019): Comunicación organizacional / Organizational communication

Section

Research articles

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