Almost all smartphones in Brazil have WhatsApp installed on them.
While the messaging app helps ensure easy communication within and outside of Brazil, its widespread use also facilitated the proliferation of disinformation in the lead-up to the country’s 2018 presidential election. During that time, Patricia Campos Mello, a journalist with Folha de São Paulo, reported closely on the mass dissemination of disinformation on WhatsApp.
Drawing on this experience during a recent ICFJ Disarming Disinformation master class, held in partnership with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Campos Mello offered a series of tips for journalists investigating political disinformation.
Kickstart your reporting by talking with people.
In 2018, political campaigns in Brazil hired marketing agencies to disseminate disinformation through mass messaging on WhatsApp. Campos Mello spoke with campaign marketing experts and their employees, building a list of companies and marketing agencies that were providing these messaging services for the campaigns.
“At the time, people didn't know what mass sending of messages was. Not us [journalists], not the TSE [Superior Electoral Court], not anyone. It was something that we were beginning to comprehend,” she said.
Next, look for data. In Brazil, for instance, journalists can search DivulgaCand, a TSE database with a wide range of elections-related information. This includes details about campaign...
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