Elections in Spain: ten keys to fight misinformation in the electoral campaign

The election campaign for the general elections to the presidency of the Spanish government is entering its last phase. Citizens must remain vigilant and bear in mind that during election periods we can all be double agents without even knowing it and that disinformation may be caused by economic problems, tribalism and the strengthening of our prejudices, in order to try to change the opinion in a camouflaged way. simply divide.

Until polling day, Sunday, April 28, we will hear about misinformation and misinformation on several occasions and with different purposes. First, we should make distinctions and ask ourselves:

1- What is misinformation?

Under the semantic umbrella of the concept of misinformation, we find the dissemination of false information and content in networks and social platforms, the legal collection of data, the development of micro-political profiles, the use of platforms and social networks for foreign influence operations, amplification of hate speech or offensive content through fake accounts or bots, as well as clickbait content aimed at optimizing the consumption of social networks.

2- What happens when we use the term false news?

First of all, it's better to talk about misinformation than fake news. At present, political actors use the ambiguous and empty character that the concept of false information has acquired to delegitimize the journalistic information they are accused of. Donald Trump has used it on Twitter at least 210 times in 2018. His already famous tweets this morning had three goals: to mark the media agenda of early radio and television programs, erase the information Newspapers may not support their interests and trigger the polarization of the conversation in social networks.

3- Why is it important for citizens to be well informed during the election campaign?

It is possible that after the next elections, the debate on how to misinform during campaigns will be legislated again – as is already happening in countries like France -. A more restrictive view is that more specific legislation should be developed for electoral processes to avoid destabilization – as happens with election polls.

A more holistic – and almost philosophical – view that misinformation refers to various and often contradictory phenomena and that, precisely during the election period, the protection of the freedom of (the) information and expression should be further guaranteed. if possible. .

In any case, a scenario in which a percentage of undecided so high that they will decide their vote last week makes sure that creating a quality public space during these days will not lead us to a later period with no expiry date of the noise and the denials as happened with the brexit

Here, the role of the state as the guarantor of the democratic electoral process may appear, strengthening the strengthening of defense, coordination and digital culture during election campaigns.

4- What role will electoral debates play in this election campaign?

We can distinguish two specific moments that speed up the verification of facts and speeches: the electoral debates and election day.

In their coverage, the media generally follow a similar structure, which can be summarized as follows: information on the context, characteristics and peculiarities of the debate, badysis of the columnists with a chronicle / badysis of the debate and live information on the evolution of the debate

Our study on the Andalusian elections of 2018 indicates that during the days of the electoral debate, the activity on Twitter doubled compared to the rest of the campaign days. These become, after the day of the vote, key days from the point of view of information intensity.

5- What role will Facebook play in the election campaign?

Traditionally, it has been said that election campaigns serve to persuade voters. However, what we have seen recently in elections in other countries is that it can be very effective in deterring potential and undecided voters from going to vote.

Advertising on Facebook is very inexpensive and, due to segmentation, invisible for unwanted profiles. Starting at 2 euros per day, you can broadcast personalized ads meeting criteria such as gender, age, location or interests. The low-intensity approach to reality – increasingly complex – makes the content we share and more widely on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, can be the most sensational , the more viral ones, those that disable our more rational firewall or it can simply cause us to reject the more negative ones.

6- What role will WhatsApp play during the campaign?

From an electoral point of view, it seems clear that the field of misinformation in the upcoming elections will be mainly at WhatsApp. As badyzed by Cristina Tardáguila, Fabrício Benevenuto and Pablo Ortellado in the Brazilian elections of 2018, nearly 44% of voters in Brazil used WhatsApp to read political and electoral information. The authors found in their badysis that "the 56% of the most shared images in the badyzed WhatsApp groups – of a political and open nature – were misleading, with only 8% of the 50 most shared images considered totally true".

7- Will there be a day of reflection?

In December 2015, researcher Mariluz Congosto warned bez.es that "electoral processes, such as the day of reflection, can be difficult to control in networks because they always have activity". That is, the current legislation is propaganda and the circulation of content by political parties must seek other formulas for action.

In this sense, it is more than possible that during the day of reflection circulate memos, fake content and videos on platforms such as WhatsApp, strategically designed. It is also true that political parties use different types of foundations, badociations or organizations to advertise political messages on Facebook or on Instragram in an attempt to convince or dissuade the undecided according to their interests.

8- What kind of political hoaxes will we see?

Among the forms of misinformation in the election campaign concerning candidates are normally: invention of false statements – written, audios or videos -, invention of the candidates' relations or inventing political measures to be applied if a certain candidate wins.

They are also frequent hoaxes and forms of disinformation related to parties: on proposals like spending in public policies, have benefited and have been harmed by future agreed measures, secret alliances, etc.

In countries like Mexico, we have seen how, as the election date approaches, the intensity and type of rumors that have circulated and shared have varied. It should be noted the information related to the development of the electoral campaign: dissemination of false investigations, digital disinformation strategies such as wasaps chains, clickbait, false information, bots, etc.

9- How can we fight in a practical way against misinformation during these days?

The easiest way to break the chains of misinformation is to write the number of Maldita (655198538) and Newtral (682589664) in our diary and send them screenshots of images or links to information supposedly inciting doubts. The creation of a community by the investigators makes our WhatsApp groups not only hoaxes reach us, but also – and more and more often – denials arrive at those hoaxes that have checked the facts -checkers.

Once the answer has reached us, we should do two things: send the refusal to the person who sent us the newsletter and give him the phone number of Maldita and Newtral so that they start to be part of the group. the community of denials.

10- What can we expect from verified verification alliance?

This initiative has already had experiences in countries such as France, the United States, Brazil or Nigeria. Checked saw the light last Thursday, April 11th. It is a media alliance such as RTVE, EFE, Europa Press, Servimedia, El Confidencial, Eldiario.es, Politico, Politibot, Journal, Datadista, El Faradio, AFP, Ara, La Marea, Newtral and Maldita.es united to verify the public and political discourse. They are coordinated by @firstdraftnews and @maldita_es.

The choice of what they verify is done according to two criteria:

-According to its impact. From monitoring social networks and public views to the platform via social networks.

-According to his danger. The principle of accountability requires the alliance to give priority to verifying disinformation that incites hatred against a group, endangers social health, and so on.

To conclude, we must emphasize that the message that has been imposed is that false information generates polarization, but it can also happen that it is the strategic polarization conceived by politics that favors the development of misinformation. During these elections, we will see in particular whether political parties have set up specialized units for propaganda and digital misinformation.

As Julio Montes, co-founder of Maldita.es points out, "in case of doubt, do not share anything". If in doubt, ask, check, check.

Raúl Magallón Rosa: Professor in the Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication of Carlos III University