The article “Election Manipulation in Brazil's 2022 General Elections: The Role of WhatsApp and Telegram on the Attacks Against Electoral Integrity and the Threats to Democracy”, by NetLab UFRJ, was one of the studies presented in the Mozilla Foundation newsletter for the month of April.
Authored by Researcher and General Coordinator of the Internet and Social Network Studies Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NetLab UFRJ) and Researcher Lori Regattieri, the article investigates and analyzes the role of digital platforms WhatsApp and Telegram in the 2022 elections in Brazil.
Given the relevance of the topics covered in the newsletter, the Mozilla Foundation created a petition for the WhatsApp application to implement measures to protect elections taking place around the world in 2024, hoping to avoid a repeat of the digital manipulation seen in 2022 in Brazil.
On the petition website, the organization states: “In 2024, elections will be held for around half of the world's population. However, the credibility of these electoral processes is threatened. WhatsApp has not been effective in identifying and stopping the spread of misinformation and hate speech on its platform, which are practices that can quickly escalate into political violence. Mozilla is urgently calling on WhatsApp to implement three simple changes to its product to stop the spread of political misinformation and harmful content on its platform.”