Sujata Sharda
It’s not the first time that social media has been subjugated to supply fake news and lies before elections. Such news is very common when election time comes close. One such news is coming from Brazil where the Bolsonaro’s government is accused of supplying fake and lies and is indirectly galvanizing the people through it. Of course Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram and giving him a very big platform to serve his needs. Bolsonaro’s government is peddling conspiracies before the upcoming presidential elections in Brazil. Sumofus, a global group that has been constantly tracking facebook for Brazil’s presidential elections has given this information that facebook has been really active in spreading disinformation before the elections, the reports found out.
Brazil and upcoming elections
The Brazilians are scared that this movement can take the place of USA’s Stop the Steal movement in which the former US president Donald Trump tried to overturn the results of 2020 elections in USA’s presidential elections. This happened on 6th January, 2021 when the former US president tried to misuse the results. The Brazilians fear that something bad or even worse could happen this time in Brazil. This is because Bolsonaro has said that he may not accept his defeat and has hinted on a coup attempt several times. The people of Brazil are really afraid of this and fear another 6th of January in their state. Not only this but violence could also occur if the issue rises with time.
credits: CNBC
Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram
The applications that are being owned by Meta are said to help the Bolsonao’s government by peddling conspiracy theories . They must have some feature that could straight away eliminate the fake news or disinformation. Especially in the case of elections, they should be more vigilant with their approach and should not support such activities on the internet. Facebook is also accused of presenting many advertisements following this government. Many ads are being found that promote the anti democratic rallies of the government. This is largely pumping hate content and encouraging violent acts on facebook that would eventually lead to aggression in society. Not only facebook but whatsapp was also found accused of performing such aggressive content. Someofus found out some whatsapp groups that were continuously in support of the 7th sep.