Society

The U.S. election has not ended on Brazilian social media

A large part of the misinformation published on social media regarding the U.S. election has come from Bolsonaro-supporting Twitter accounts

us election misinformation
Twitter labelled official Donald Trump’s “STOP THE FRAUD” tweet as “disputed”

Throughout the tabulation process of this year’s U.S. elections, Facebook and Twitter were inundated with misinformation and disputed claims of voter fraud. While the most prominent culprit was incumbent President Donald Trump himself — demanding that polling stations “STOP THE COUNT!” before his lead in key states was whittled down and eventually overturned by victor and President-elect Joe Biden.

But what was particularly eye-opening was the quantity of Brazil-based accounts relaying this same misleading data in Portuguese. The phenomenon was noticed by Christopher Bouzy, creator of Twitter platform Bot Sentinel, which tracks activity of inauthentic accounts and internet trolls.

On his personal Twitter account, Mr. Bouzy wrote that while it is not unique for foreign accounts to spread disinformation about American politics, “it’s unusual for a significant number of Brazilian Twitter accounts attempting to sow discord in a U.S. presidential election.”

Indeed, many influential pro-Bolsonaro accounts were involved in the spreading of unconfirmed...

Don't miss this opportunity!

Interested in staying updated on Brazil and Latin America? Subscribe to start receiving our reports now!