WASHINGTON: Spanish-language misinformation flourished online in the days surrounding the US election, even as social media companies moved to stem falsehoods that could affect the vote or spark violence.
Spanish-language social media posts from online celebrities, radio commentators and others have repeatedly questioned the reliability of mail-in voting and falsely described presidential candidate Joe Biden as a socialist, according to Spanish-language disinformation experts and posts seen by Reuters.
Other postings have pushed QAnon in Spanish, a conspiracy theory that claims incumbent President Donald Trump is fighting a cabal of “deep state” traffickers, and describe Biden as a “super predator” or a “pedophile,” these people said.
Social media companies introduced new rules to crack down on election-related misinformation through labelling content, restricting its reach or removing it, but enforcement has been uneven.
While Alphabet Inc’s YouTube, Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc have all taken action against some false or misleading Spanish-language posts, many more remain online and have continued to spread, Reuters found.
“On Facebook and the other platforms it takes them longer to flag and take action when the post is in Spanish than English,” said Daniel Acosta Ramos, an investigative researcher with First Draft, echoing a complaint voiced by four other experts who spoke with Reuters.
A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter but said the company had taken multiple steps to combat misinformation in Spanish, including adding two new Spanish-language fact-checking partners before the election. She did not address a list of posts and videos shared by Reuters that appear to violate the company’s policies.
Social media researchers also expressed concern about the spread of misinformation on the WhatsApp messaging service. Lisa Zayas, a progressive organiser in Florida, provided Reuters with examples of Spanish-language misinformation spread through multiple WhatsApp channels used in her local community.
The memes and graphics paint a picture of a Democratic challenger bent on passing laws “against” the church. Misinformation on WhatsApp remains especially difficult to study or counter, since it involves private messages.
Zayas said the examples she noticed typically originated on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube but were delivered within the chat app. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
