Disinformation about COVID-19 in Ibero-America: An Analysis of Fact Checkers

Abstract

In light of the intense information disorder that has ensued since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim of this study is to analyze the similarities and differences between the disinformation circulating in three countries, based on the posts of their pioneering fact-checking organizations: Agência Lupa (Brazil), Newtral (Spain), and Jornal Polígrafo (Portugal). A quantitative and qualitative content analysis (Bardin, 2011) was run on the fact checks (n = 87) performed by the three organizations in March 2021, 12 months after the pandemic had been declared by the World Health Organization, using the analytical categories “classification”, “medium”, “format”, “source”, and “topic”. The disinformation identified in the three countries shared three similarities, namely, a predominance of false content, the primary use of text formats, and the dissemination of disinformation on social media platforms. As to the sources cited and subject matter, differences were found in the strategies employed to validate the disinformation and in the topics covered. It can be concluded that while the pandemic was a global phenomenon, the disinformation circulating about it was influenced by the political, social, and cultural particularities of each country.