General Coordinator of NetLab UFRJ/Photo: NetLab UFRJ
Held between the 18th and 21st of June, at Swansea University (Wales), the Terrorism and Social Media 2024 conference program brought together workshops and panels with experts to discuss the scenario of extremism and terrorism on online platforms and games, as well as the use of AI and the lack of digital transparency.
The researcher at the Internet and Social Network Studies Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NetLab UFRJ), Débora Salles, was invited to present the study “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”, which deals with the events during the last presidential elections in Brazil.
Salles' presentation showed how the 2022 elections in Brazil represented a battle for Brazilian democracy, as several false narratives were propagated online, at the same time that big techs were not held responsible for maintaining the circulation of such information on the platforms.
Furthermore, the general coordinator was interviewed by CYTREC (Cyber Threats Research Centre), a research center at Swansea University (Law).