With Focus on COVID-19 and Dengue, Health Debate Becomes a Target of Politicization and Misinformation on Social Media

By: FGV Comunicação Rio 

Health, environment, and public safety were the most prominent topics during the social media monitoring conducted by the Media and Democracy project from December 2023 to March 2024. A significant portion of the posts analyzed regarding these themes was marked by disinformative narratives, predominantly driven by polarized political agendas, with the right-wing playing a prominent role.

In this study, we focus on analyses related to health. We observed that the dengue epidemic, in particular, triggered denialist discourses about vaccination, echoing the narratives seen during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which resurfaced in debates aimed at discrediting scientific facts.

This document compiles weekly materials selected to support the development of action strategies and to provide guidance for the Media and Democracy project’s Council.

The report begins with the section “Analysis Lines: The Bimonthly Overview,” summarizing findings from health-related discussions on platforms such as X, WhatsApp, and Telegram. These insights, along with the broader analytical work underpinning this study, led to recommendations for potential action strategies, consolidated in the section “Action Lines: Thematic Guidelines.” Finally, the “Retrospective” section offers a summary of the project’s activities from December 2023 to March 2024.

1. Analysis Lines: The Bimonthly Overview

From January to March 2024, the Media and Democracy project carried out a range of activities, including eight social media monitoring reports and 12 fact-checking verifications. Within this scope, health, public security, and the environment emerged as the main themes. However, specific debates surrounding International Women’s Day and parallels between the elections in the United States and Brazil were also explored.

This policy paper focuses on analyses related to the health discourse, covering a broader timeframe from January 2023 to February 2024, to highlight shifts and continuities in this debate. Additionally, it delves into the connections between dengue and COVID-19, comparing narratives, arguments, and disinformation trends surrounding both diseases. While this is the central focus of the study, the project’s bimonthly overview also incorporates other analytical inputs. For instance, it notes that January 8 was a recurring topic throughout 2023, serving as a foundation for political disputes. Similarly, within public security discussions, issues such as violence against women, police violence, and urban violence gained significant traction on social media.

In general, the study underscores how critical areas like health are repeatedly weaponized for political disputes and negative campaigning between opposing factions. A “repetition” of discursive strategies is evident, especially among social actors aligned with the right and former president Jair Bolsonaro. This became particularly clear when comparing disinformation narratives about dengue and COVID-19, both of which followed a ritual of denialism and conspiracy, promoting unproven treatments.

This trend underscores the importance of tackling health-related disinformation, a critical issue that directly impacts public adherence to vaccination policies. Such discourse also fuels what can be described as an epistemic crisis, where authoritative entities, such as science, are sidelined and framed as untrustworthy. Similar patterns are observed in attacks on the electoral system and the climate agenda, revealing a deeply harmful dynamic for democratic systems and emphasizing the urgency of studying these phenomena. 

1.1 Health Debate: Dengue Crisis, COVID-19, and Disinformation

In the health debate, particularly regarding dengue and COVID-19, disinformation narratives have circulated around vaccination, conspiratorial "globalism" theories, and the promotion of unproven treatments. It is also notable that some content claims to reference scientific studies and authoritative figures in the field of science to legitimize false arguments about vaccination. This pattern was observed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as highlighted by the FGV ECMI study, and reemerged between 2023 and 2024 in content related to both COVID-19 and dengue..

Evolution of the health debate on X

Period: January 1, 2023 to February 26, 2024 

 

Fonte: X | Elaboração: FGV ECMI

• In 2023, the health debate on X was centered around COVID-19. However, starting in 2024, COVID-19 began sharing the spotlight with discussions about dengue;
• With the exception of the initial peak in mentions mapped in January 2023, which was linked to the humanitarian crisis affecting the Yanomami people, the most significant surges in the health debate were related to COVID-19. In May 2023, for instance, the announcement of the end of the pandemic generated the highest daily volume of mentions in the entire health discussion. However, starting in January 2024, dengue began to surpass COVID-19, drawing greater attention in public discourse. The focus so far has been on the rise in cases across Brazil;
• Although distinct diseases, the narratives surrounding COVID-19 and dengue share similarities, marked by strong politicization and the predominance of conservative and denialist discourses. Both include accusations attributing responsibility to the Lula government, alongside conspiratorial claims about alleged "plans" by the WHO concerning these illnesses. However, vaccination emerges as a point of divergence: while the COVID-19 vaccine is rejected and linked to various alleged deaths, the dengue vaccine is demanded from the government. 

Principais termos sobre saúde no X

Period 1: Jan/Jun 2023                                                Period 2: Jul/Dec 2023

 

Source: X | Prepared by: FGV ECMI

• Minister Nísia Trindade stood out among the most mentioned health-related terms on X in 2023. In the first half of the year, criticisms were tied to vaccination, abortion legalization, and the humanitarian crisis in Yanomami territory. Messages of support for the minister and criticism of Arthur Lira also surfaced following concerns about the possibility of her ministry being included in Lula's cabinet reshuffle. Social issues and efforts to combat inequality were highlighted as well, with the announcements of new government programs early in the year;
• In the second half of the year, the criticism of Minister Nísia Trindade focused on the debate surrounding the vaccination of children and the inclusion of the Covid-19 vaccine in the National Immunization Program (PNI). In this context, possible side effects and disinformation related to vaccination were widely shared. Awareness campaigns on mental health and posts warning about the spread of health misinformation on social media also became some of the most mentioned terms;
• The dengue epidemic became the most discussed topic in the health debate during January and February of 2024. The Ministry of Health is held accountable for allegedly refusing to purchase vaccines in July 2023 and for the supposed collapse of the healthcare system in some regions, such as the Federal District (DF);
• The mandatory Covid-19 vaccination for children continues to be a prominent issue in early 2024, with a focus on demands for scientific evidence proving the vaccines' efficacy and safety for this age group. Conspiratorial messages claiming that the World Economic Forum is being used by elites to "change the world" and alarmist content about a supposed "Disease X," discussed at the Forum, also emerge in a peripheral manner.

Covid-19 and Dengue: Nuances and Similarities in the Digital Debate

Evolution of the Debate on Covid-19 and Dengue on X

Period: January 1, 2023 to February 26, 2024 

 

 

• The distribution of mentions of Covid-19 and Dengue throughout 2023 and 2024 highlights the dominance of the Covid debate in 2023 and how it was surpassed by significant peaks associated with Dengue between January and February 2024; 
• However, the characteristics of the Dengue debate point to more episodic mentions, largely related to the current increase in cases; this contrasts significantly with the ongoing discussion about Covid-19, which was persistent throughout the entire period – the virus, in this sense, became a recurring flag in discussions about vaccine reliability, individual freedoms, and government investment in public health;
• Dominated by conservative profiles, the debates on Covid-19 and Dengue converge as both are rooted in denialist, conspiratorial, and, in some cases, disinformative content. Negative associations between the diseases and the left are also common, with clear attempts to hold the Lula’s administration accountable.

Disinformative axes on Covid-19 and Dengue on Telegram and WhatsApp.

Period: January 1, 2023 to February 27, 2024 

Source: Telegram and WhatsApp | Prepared by: FGV ECMI

• Both disinformation contents, regarding both dengue and Covid-19, are based on two central pillars: denialism about the disease and the notion that there is a "globalist plan" behind the Covid pandemic and, now, the dengue epidemic;
• It is possible to foresee, for example, that in the same way messages circulate on WhatsApp drawing attention to a "killing campaign" of the Covid-19 vaccine with the intent to "kill 3 billion people worldwide," mentions are mapped regarding dengue, suggesting fraudulent experiments behind the increase in cases of the disease, which would be intentionally spreading globally;
• In some cases, this relationship between Covid-19 and dengue is already stated in the message itself. In this context, the idea that both diseases are frauds stands out, since their symptoms are, from this point of view, generated by the effect of 5G on human beings. Below, we also dedicate a space to explaining the misinformation axes regarding treatments against Covid-19 and dengue, in addition to messages that indicate that the blame for the dengue epidemic would be the vaccine treatment against Covid-19; 

• Mentions of the medications Ivermectin and Chloroquine, strongly associated with the treatment of Covid-19, were also mapped as indicative treatments for combating dengue. In addition to the recommendation, there is another common factor related to the conspiratorial narrative that there is an interest in withholding the alleged effects of these drugs;
• Finally, the notion that the Covid-19 vaccination is what fueled the current increase in dengue cases also gains significant traction among the monitored groups, especially those focused on conspiracy theories or more aligned with the right-wing. 

2. Action Lines: Thematic Guidelines

The results achieved highlight how the digital debate on health not only reflects what happens in society's daily life but also impacts the course of that daily life, affecting, for example, the public's trust in medicines and vaccines. The peaks in this debate throughout 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 indicate that Covid-19 and dengue were the topics that most motivated individuals to participate in the online health discussion, although abortion, the humanitarian crisis in Yanomami territory, and mental health issues were also prominent, albeit more peripherally.

In both cases, there is a strong tendency to politicize these debates, making the health portfolio a tool and instrument for confrontation and dispute between political fields. In this context, health disinformation emerges as a constant strategy that, by amplifying fears and feelings of urgency, can affect the public's perception not only of a specific vaccine but of science as a whole.

In view of this, there is an urgent need to create and establish directions and lines of action that, whether in the medium or long term, can help address this issue, improving the quality of the digital debate on health in Brazil. The Media and Democracy project, along with the results of this bimonthly cycle, contributes by providing analytical and informational support for the creation of these topics.. 

2.1 Public policies

2.1.1 Promote and improve communication strategies focused on spreading health information, establishing more direct channels between citizens and governments, to combat disinformation and respond to various rumors;

2.1.2 Establish and improve a set of laws and measures that discourage the production and dissemination of fake news and other health-related frauds.

2.2 Digital platform companies

2.2.1 Enable the creation of a structure that, in addition to combating disinformative content by restricting its circulation and notifying responsible parties, can anticipate coordinated campaigns by mapping discursive strategies; 

2.2.2 Strengthen transparency policies regarding the fight against health misinformation by making data available and partnering with the academic community. 

2.3 Production of scientific evidence.

2.3.1 Strengthen processes and dynamics of scientific dissemination related to health, highlighting the applicability of these debates and studies in people's lives, investing in strategies that bring these advances closer to the general public; 

2.3.2 Provide analytical inputs that enable a broader and more detailed understanding of how health misinformation is used for political-electoral purposes, especially during national or municipal election periods.

3. Retrospective

Monitoring

In January, February, and March, eight weekly reports were produced. Beyond the dengue epidemic, which prompted specific reports and a series of fact-checks, the project focused on topics related to public security and the environment. Developments from the January 8th attacks, marking the one-year anniversary of the event, were also highlighted during this period. All of the project's monitoring and activities can be tracked on the website.

The politicization of public security throughout 2023 and the beginning of 2024, along with environmental issues such as discussions around environmental racism stemming from comments by Minister Anielle Franco, were prominent topics. In the environmental debate, the indigenous agenda was explored through new developments in the Yanomami crisis, which was triggered the previous year.

Other notable highlights from the monitoring period included the escape of inmates from the federal prison in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, which sparked significant debate on public security under the current government, and allegations of child sexual exploitation on Marajó Island in Pará.

Fact-Checking

From the monitoring of social media, Agência Lupa conducted 12 fact-checks on disinformation circulating on the platforms. False information about components of the dengue vaccine and the promotion of unproven homemade treatments for the disease were highlighted among the verifications carried out during the period.

Regarding this topic, we can highlight: It is false that COVID vaccines were destroyed in Russia and suspended by 21 countries; Lemon juice and sugarcane juice are not effective in treating dengue; Homemade mosquito repellent with clove, alcohol, and body oil is not effective against dengue; and Fake news about dengue repeats the false narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic.