Social media and disinformation: the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian context

Abstract

Having as a research problem to understand how Brazilians dealt with and were able to adequately evaluate the news broadcast about Covid-19 in the context of social media, this article adopts the general objective: to analyze how the media participated in the daily lives of Brazilians during the crisis health resulting from Covid-19. In turn, it pursues as specific objectives: 1) to understand the mediation carried out by the media during the pandemic in Brazil, especially with regard to the Covid-19 theme; 2) analyze the dissemination of information about the new coronavirus within the scope of social media in order to understand how they affected the behavior of individuals during this period; and, 3) to apprehend the perception of individuals regarding the role of fact-checking agencies and their relevance in the fight against misinformation about Covid-19 in the Brazilian context. In this sense, using authors from the field of Communication and Information, it presents a theoretical discussion on the concepts of media, disinformation, fake news, post-truth, infodemic and media education, highlighting the importance of the role of fact-checking agencies. Qualitative in nature, the research is characterized as exploratory in terms of objectives and having Discourse Analysis as a methodological design, which was used to examine the responses collected through the application of a mixed questionnaire, composed of both open and closed questions, having created using the Google Workspace platform and its form creation, editing and sharing tool. The data collection instrument was made available digitally, via instant messaging application, without delimitation as to the public (gender, race or class, for example). The research data are presented from a thematic grouping based on the content of the questionnaire questions, being subdivided into four categories, namely: 1st) search for information about the pandemic in Brazil; 2nd) hegemonic vehicles of communication and social media; 3rd) perceptions about the role of fact-checking agencies in combating disinformation; and 4th) media education. In conclusion, it highlights that there was a significant influence of the media along with a growing presence of social media in the daily lives of individuals, especially from topics related to the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, it emphasizes that the relationship between the public and the media must be based on a critical appropriation of information, arguing in favor of media education and its contribution to the fight against misinformation in everyday life.