Understanding digital threats in Brazil: Media and Democracy Project
By: DRI
By: DRI
As the Media and Democracy Project comes to an end in 2024, we find it essential to reflect on the progress made and the impact of our work. Over the last two years, the Project has addressed critical challenges to democratic processes by monitoring, analysing, and raising awareness of emerging digital threats. These achievements were made possible through valuable collaboration with a diverse group of partners and a multidisciplinary approach that integrated expertise in research and factchecking. This meta-analysis summarizes the Project’s achievements, key findings, and contributions from its partners, while exploring the future implications of our research.
- Comprehensive social media monitoring: The consortium performed a comprehensive monitoring of social media platforms over these two years, with a particular focus on the period of the municipal elections. This effort enabled us to evaluate and identify patterns of disinformation and hate speech, and the evolution of specific topics of interest.
- Strengthening global collaboration: By bringing together local experts and international partners with diverse expertise, the Project facilitated knowledgesharing and proactive collaboration, allowing us to learn from various contexts and backgrounds.
- Stakeholder engagement: This Project fostered collaboration with policymakers, researchers, and media organisations to guarantee that the project’s findings translated into actionable strategies
- Raising public awareness: Through regular bilingual reports and highimpact events, the consortium successfully raised awareness about the risks of digital democracy and the evolution of public discourse online, sparking critical discussion in the media and among the public.
This meta-analysis is organised around three themes identified at the conclusion of the Project:
Hate speech: Gender-based violence and hate speech disproportionately targeted female candidates, particularly during the municipal elections, where such attacks were often intensified by disinformation and online harassment. These strategies aim to delegitimise these candidates' roles and perpetuate conservative gender stereotypes, revealing a deep relationship between misogyny, transphobia, and political polarisation.
Disinformation: Online disinformation remains a significant threat to Brazil's democracy, with election-related narratives focusing on undermining trust in institutions such as the electronic voting system. Gendered disinformation and AI-generated fabrications targeting candidates, particularly women and LGBTQ+ communities, highlighted the increasingly strategic and polarised nature of these campaigns;
Environmental topic: Political discourse on environmental issues remained predominantly reactive and short-term, with candidates leveraging specific disasters for political advantage rather than committing to long-term climate strategies.