Disinformation Contested and Rejected by Brazilian Presidential Campaigns in 2022 Election

Abstract

After a key role in the 2018 campaign, the concern with fake news was repositioned in the 2022 elections in Brazil. Previous studies indicated that politicians often adopt the term fake news to dismiss accusations and delegitimize criticism, while spreading false content to attack opponents or benefit allied campaigns. This article evaluates two divergent strategies to deal with the disinformation scenario. The method adopted was to search for content that discusses or combats disinformation in websites from candidates who led the 2022 elections and their parties. Lula’s victorious campaign reinforced the tendency of rejection by contestation, with a page that identified false content contrasted with verifications, in a strategy to clarify doubts of undecided voters and supply militants with answers to accusations. Bolsonaro’s defeated campaign ignored the issue on official platforms, even rejecting the debate about fake news, with few critical publications on this topic.