“Made in China”: disinformation and Sinophobia on Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil

In this study, we analyze Facebook posts to explore the role of disinformation and Sinophobia in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. Although Sinophobic discourse is not new, it has been frequently associated with disinformation about Covid-19 in the country (Recuero; Soares, 2022). After collecting posts related to China from public groups on Facebook, we used Social Network Analysis to explore the networks and further analyze the most posted links. Connected Concept Analysis (CCA – Lindgren, 2016) was employed to examine the Facebook posts containing links that were posted at least 10 times from each cluster (n= 2,302 posts) and a qualitative deep reading was performed in order to make sense of the connections identified in the CCA. We identified three trends in the pro-Bolsonaro cluster: (1) blaming China for the pandemic, (2) reproducing conspiracy theories about China intentionally creating the virus, and (3) reinforcing a political framing of the pandemic (created by Communists). Sinophobic discourse was used to reinforce these claims. In addition to posts with overt Sinophobic discourse, other posts contained covert Sinophobia when blaming China for the pandemic

Covid-19 in Brazil : social and racial inequality as inducers in the spread of the disease in the country

Redes sociais face aos desafios num mundo global / coordenação [de] Joaquim Manuel Rocha Fialho, e outros. - Lisboa : Universidade Lusíada. 2023. - ISBN 978-989-640-249-5 - P. 181-190

Research note: Bolsonaro’s firehose: How Covid-19 disinformation on WhatsApp was used to fight a government political crisis in Brazil

Brazil has one of the highest rates of cases and deaths attributed to Covid-19 in the world. Two factors contributed to the high rates: the Brazilian government underestimated the pandemic and a large amount of disinformation was spread through social media. We found that disinformation about Covid-19 on WhatsApp was associated with political disinformation, mostly composed to support president Bolsonaro during the crisis he faced at the beginning of the pandemic. Our main finding implicates that disinformation on WhatsApp was connected to the far-right political discourse and framed Covid-19 as a political issue rather than a public health issue

Desinformação sobre o Covid-19 no WhatsApp: a pandemia enquadrada como debate político

In this paper, we discuss how the disinformation about Covid-19 is framed on WhatsApp in Brazil. Our aims are: (1) analyze political discourse influence in these processes and (2) identify the disinformation about Covid-19 characteristics on WhatsApp. We used content analysis to analyze 802 messages collected using the WhatsApp Monitor during March and April, 2020. Our main findings are: (1) the pandemic was framed as political debate and the disinformation was used to strengthen a pro-Bolsonaro narrative at a time of government crisis; and (2) WhatsApp affordances affected the content and the discursive strategies in the messages, which appropriate the most private space to propagate conspiracy theories based on opinion and use strategies such as call to action to increase the spread of misinformation.Neste artigo, discutimos como é enquadrada a desinformação sobre o Covid-19 no WhatsApp no Brasil. Nossos objetivos são: (1) analisar a influência do discurso político nestes processos e (2) identificar as características da desinformação sobre o Covid-19 nesta ferramenta. Para isso, utilizamos a análise de conteúdo em um conjunto de 802 mensagens coletadas por meio do Monitor do WhatsApp em março e abril de 2020. Os nossos principais resultados mostram que: (1) a pandemia foi enquadrada como debate político e a desinformação foi utilizada para fortalecer uma narrativa pró-Bolsonaro em momento de crise do governo; e (2) as affordances do WhatsApp afetam o conteúdo e as estratégias discursivas das mensagens, que se apropriam do espaço mais privado para propagar teorias da conspiração baseadas em opinião e utilizam estratégias como o call to action para aumentar a propagação da desinformação

Framing Covid-19: how fact-checking circulate on the Facebook far-right

This research focus on how fact-checking links circulate on Facebook groups/pages that also shared disinformation, particularly, the ones affiliated with the far-right. Through a three-step method that included content analysis, discursive analysis and social network analysis, we analyzed public 860 posts and found out that: while fact-checking does circulate on these groups, they tend to be framed as disinformation through posts on far-right ones, which we call “explicit framing”; the far-right groups tend to cluster around specific fact-checking links that are mostly shared without a framing text, but whose theme support their own ideological narrative (which we call “silent framing”) and; both explicit and silent framing tend to happen through populist discourse connections

Bolsonaro and the Far Right: How Disinformation About COVID-19 Circulates on Facebook in Brazil

This article tackles the circulation of disinformation and compares it to fact-checking links about COVID-19 on Facebook in Brazil. Through a mixed-methods approach, we use disinformation and fact-checking links provided by the International Fact-Checking Network/Poynter, which we looked for in CrowdTangle. Using this data set, we explore (1) which types of public groups/pages spread disinformation and fact-checking content on Facebook; (2) the role of political ideology in this process; and (3) the network dynamics of how disinformation and fact-checking circulate on Facebook. Our results show that disinformation tend to circulate more on political pages/groups aligned with the far right and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on religious and conspiracy theory pages/groups and alternative (hyperpartisan) media. On the other hand, fact-checking circulates more on leftists’ pages/groups. This implicates that the discussion about COVID-19 in Brazil is influenced by a structure of asymmetric polarization, as disinformation spread is fueled by radicalized far-right groups