Research on socio-environmental misinformation was the theme of the presentation at the reopening of the 2023 CBPF Colloquia | Photo: Reproduction - NCS / CBPF
On August 8, the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) held the reopening of the CBPF Colloquium event for the second half of 2023, at the Minister João Alberto Auditorium, at the institution's headquarters.
With the title “Fake News, Fake Science, Denialism: The Cost of Disinformation for Brazilian Society”, the edition invited the director of the Laboratory of Internet and Social Network Studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NetLab UFRJ), Professor Marie Santini, who has been researching the topic for over 10 years.
The event was open to the public and broadcast live on YouTube, with the presence of CBPF researchers, as well as specialists and professionals from other areas of study.
About the subject
Efforts to synthesize evidence have been indicating the advance of organized forms of disinformation and denial of scientific knowledge about global climate change. In several countries around the world, there is a strong debate about the dissemination of these narratives on the internet and their political, social and economic impacts.
Focusing on the phenomenon of disinformation in Brazil, especially the social/environmental impact, this colloquium synthesizes the experience and knowledge accumulated by the Laboratory of Internet and Social Network Studies of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NetLab UFRJ), in their research on the social implications of propaganda, disinformation and automation in different topics related to the so-called “Socio Environmental Infodemic”.
A longitudinal analysis of the socio-environmental debate in the Brazilian digital media ecosystem between January 2021 and November 2022 was presented, with the systematization of narratives, content standards, dissemination strategies and instrumentalization of platforms to propagate disinformation.
Based on the empirical results of the research, the structuring and modes of operation of the socio-environmental disinformation ecosystem in Brazil were discussed, and its ability to mobilize the mainstream media, local media portals and junk news sources to flow narratives in favor of the agribusiness, in addition to a multiplatform performance coordinated between influencers, politicians and financiers.