How Journalists Can Brace Themselves for 2024 Election Misinformation
As forty nations gear up for national elections in 2024, a mounting concern shadows the electoral process—misinformation and disinformation loom large across social media platforms and messaging apps, including Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Investigating the origins and funding behind this false content has emerged as a crucial yet formidable challenge.
Prominent journalists Patricia Campos Mello and Craig Silverman, from Brazil's Folha de S. Paulo and ProPublica, respectively, have conducted extensive research into the proliferation of disinformation during electoral periods, offering insights and strategies to combat the spread of false narratives.
In exclusive ICFJ Disarming Disinformation: Investigative master classes, Campos Mello and Silverman shared vital tips for journalists navigating the landscape of disinformation. They delved into unraveling the origins of political ads on social media, identifying their funders, and addressing the pervasive use of messaging apps for disseminating misleading content.
Campos Mello suggested investigative strategies, including joining public groups on WhatsApp and Telegram or collaborating with monitoring bodies like think tanks and universities. These collaborations aim to dissect false narratives circulating in these groups, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding identities by using varied phone numbers while engaging in these platforms.
Both WhatsApp and Telegram offer one-way broadcasting channels that, as Campos Mello cautioned, can be wielded to propagate disinformation to a wide audience. Journalists, she stressed, should actively participate in pertinent channels to track misinformation trends.
Reflecting on Brazil's 2018 elections, Campos Mello highlighted the rapid dissemination of disinformation and political propaganda across social media and messaging apps. In the lead-up to the 2022 elections, false claims, propagated mainly via social media, circulated among Jair Bolsonaro supporters alleging electoral rigging.
Silverman directed attention to the ad libraries operated by Meta, TikTok, and Google, invaluable resources for investigating ad funders. Meta and TikTok, for instance, archive political and election-related ads, enabling scrutiny of their funding sources. However, Silverman cautioned about unregistered political ads slipping through the system's gaps.
The ability to conduct keyword searches within these libraries varied among platforms, with Google posing certain limitations compared to Meta and TikTok. All platforms, though, offer filters based on categories and countries for refined searches.
Campos Mello highlighted the role of junk news sites, financed through Google ads or Taboola, in disseminating extreme, hyper-partisan, or propagandistic content. Investigative efforts should include monitoring these sites for false information circulation and financial backing.
Furthermore, journalists should stay abreast of political advertising regulations in their respective countries and scrutinize whether social media ad campaigns adhere to these policies. Tech companies, including Meta, have their moderation policies, monitoring the nature of content and curbing ads inciting violence or spreading false election claims.
Monitoring the enforcement of these moderation policies by tech companies is crucial, emphasized Campos Mello. Collaboration with universities or think tanks can enhance investigative capabilities, pooling resources to scrutinize vast information landscapes.
Reflecting on recent incidents, Campos Mello underscored the pivotal role of monitoring platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram to track fundraising efforts and actors behind events like the storming of Brazil's Congress.
