According to experts, the spread of false news is detrimental to work on the tragedy that struck Rio Grande do Sul.
Thousands of public authorities and volunteers are carrying out rescues and working around the clock to help flood victims in Rio Grande do Sul.
In the meantime, however, another army is mobilizing on social media to create and spread false information about the tragedy.
Authorities in Rio Grande do Sul have reported that at least 78 people have died as a result of heavy rains that have hit the state since last week. At 6pm on Sunday (5/5), the Civil Protection of Rio Grande do Sul reported the disappearance of at least 105 people. About 115 thousand people were homeless.
According to the State Civil Protection, 341 of the 497 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul have been affected by the heavy rains that have continued since the beginning of the week. 844 thousand people have been affected by the floods.
In the midst of this tragedy, the BBC report identified several cases of misinformation, confirmed by experts, which were widely spread on social media.
Among the most shocking last weekend were false reports that the government would fine boatmen who rescue victims and that the federal government would sponsor Madonna’s concert in Rio de Janeiro.
On Sunday night, the government of Rio Grande do Sul denied the information about the fine and informed in a statement that “a license is not required to drive this equipment, according to information from the state government, through the Crisis Office.”
In a video, the minister of the Secretariat for Social Communications of the Presidency, Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS), claimed that a false connection is being created between Madonna’s show and the Rio Grande do Sul tragedy – and denied the information that the federal government was funding the show.
“Madonna’s show was paid for by Itaú and Heineken, with support from Rio’s city hall and the state government,” he said.
The executive director of To the facts (investigative platform against disinformation), Fernanda from Escóssia, says that these efforts to respond to fake news hurt rescues.
“In this ecosystem, misinformation mocks the lives of others, boasts about the dead, and is not ashamed to produce false content with the goal of gaining clicks, engagement, and monetization by adhering to a political position,” he says.
Escóssia underlines that the risks of a tragedy are great and that misinformation amplifies them. For her, fake news diverts attention from non-existent problems.
“Fake news has a very perverse effect. It hinders the work of the authorities in helping the victims, as they have to continue to deny false content. This harms the work of those who have to act in this rescue and generates waves of panic.”, he says.
A report released Sunday afternoon by the government of Rio Grande do Sul (5/5) reports that there are six hydroelectric dams in an emergency situation, with an imminent risk of failure. According to the government of Rio Grande do Sul, this indicates that “measures must be taken to preserve life”.
Among these measures is the removal of families from areas that could be affected in the event of a rupture. The number of families in this situation was not reported.
‘Repolarization’
Fabricio Pontin, professor of International Relations at La Salle University in Porto Alegre and nearby Canoas, is involved in efforts to collect donations for those affected, while observing online discourse about the tragedy.
Analyzing the dynamics of creation and circulation of disinformation on digital platforms is one of his research objects. For Pontin, a phenomenon of “repolarization of the narrative of the catastrophe” is underway.
“At times like these, we need reliable information. False information about a bridge fall, a robbery or a raid can cost lives,” he says. At the same time, he estimates, it is precisely in moments of turmoil like the current one that “it is extremely difficult, from a cognitive point of view, to abandon one’s previous position, whatever it may be”.
“Fake news consolidates the position you already have and the network you already have,” as a way “to strengthen your networks of affection.”
Often these are real networks, such as those of condominiums or football groups, enhanced by the speed and intensity of exchanges in the networks.
“Events like today cause enormous cognitive disruption. And reacting to that has a very high cognitive cost, a personal cost. The tendency for all of us is to return to a cognitive place of safety,” he says.
“People who are against the government find in this crisis the narratives that consolidate their position of being against the government, against taxes, against institutions. And, in the same way, they find a [narrativa] anti-capitalist [do outro lado]. In all social groups this consolidation seems to be taking place.”
It indicates the creation of a language of familiarity that appears in the narratives of specific groups. “It could be a language of paranoia towards the state, or of paranoia towards the private sector. Of paranoia towards this imagined ‘other’, which is an adversary.”
For him “by associating this [as fake news ou a criação de narrativas] only with the far right is it a wrong reflection.”
“We all cling to aspects of information that are false aspects, that contain a false element, [que] they come into statements that solidify our place of faith,” he explains.
The problem, he says, is that on the radical right these networks are extremely professional. “There are a lot of people making a lot of money from all of this, so you can’t ignore that this factor exists as well.”
Monetization of tragedy
Fernanda da Escóssia, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Social Communication at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), explains that digital influencers earn by spreading fake news in networks. The money, according to her, is paid by companies from the monetization of content published on their platforms.
She calls this movement the “professionalization of fake news.”
“Once again, the disinformation system is working to exploit the pain of the tragedy to gain engagement, monetize and criticize politics,” he says.
He says all social networks can be monetized, not to mention a favorite of fake news spreaders. Emphasizes that the website To the facts It closely monitors the spread of this fake content and will check some of it.
To prevent misinformation from spreading further, he urges people not to share content they aren’t sure is true.
She advises that to avoid sharing false content, people need to be suspicious of what they receive. He recommends assessing whether the source of the information is reliable, such as a recognized news outlet.
Then, he has to look for the same information in other sources to confirm it on other trusted websites or pages.
She warns that false content is often spread with a sense of urgency, with demands to immediately share it with as many people as possible. And she points out that it is still very difficult for the reader to distinguish what is true from what is false.
“It’s difficult for him because today it is possible to do one deep fake and using the face of a famous person while advertising something false because these technologies are increasingly sophisticated,” he says.
And he reiterates that, when in doubt, it is better not to share.
“The intention is not to become a useful innocent and not to spread misinformation content.”
Source: Terra
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