Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp

WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging platforms across the globe and is particularly prominent in the Global South. Despite being a private messaging app, WhatsApp is becoming an important platform for political information and political talk, which raises concerns about the spread of misinfor...

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Main Authors: Patricia Rossini, Érica Anita Baptista, Vanessa Veiga de Oliveira, Jennifer Stromer-Galley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: HOPE 2021-04-01
Series:Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalqd.org/article/view/2587
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author Patricia Rossini
Érica Anita Baptista
Vanessa Veiga de Oliveira
Jennifer Stromer-Galley
author_facet Patricia Rossini
Érica Anita Baptista
Vanessa Veiga de Oliveira
Jennifer Stromer-Galley
author_sort Patricia Rossini
collection DOAJ
description WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging platforms across the globe and is particularly prominent in the Global South. Despite being a private messaging app, WhatsApp is becoming an important platform for political information and political talk, which raises concerns about the spread of misinformation on the platform. This paper presents comprehensive descriptive results of a national survey of internet users in Brazil, focusing on political information on social media. Our data shows that Brazilians are very active social media users, particularly on Facebook and WhatsApp, and consider these platforms very important to fulfill a myriad of political and informational aims. However, they also demonstrate great concern about the quality and accuracy of information circulating online. Despite finding significant differences in how these two platforms are used, the data suggests that WhatsApp is becoming central to how Brazilians have access to and engage with politics.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2673-8813
language English
publishDate 2021-04-01
publisher HOPE
record_format Article
series Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
spelling doaj-art-4e6642ea1cf445c793888bbf7bdae8242025-08-20T03:36:44ZengHOPEJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media2673-88132021-04-01110.51685/jqd.2021.015Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsAppPatricia Rossini0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4463-6444Érica Anita Baptista1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3154-3820Vanessa Veiga de Oliveira2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5333-4782Jennifer Stromer-Galley3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6079-8788University of LiverpoolFederal University of Minas GeraisFederal University of Minas GeraisSyracuse University WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging platforms across the globe and is particularly prominent in the Global South. Despite being a private messaging app, WhatsApp is becoming an important platform for political information and political talk, which raises concerns about the spread of misinformation on the platform. This paper presents comprehensive descriptive results of a national survey of internet users in Brazil, focusing on political information on social media. Our data shows that Brazilians are very active social media users, particularly on Facebook and WhatsApp, and consider these platforms very important to fulfill a myriad of political and informational aims. However, they also demonstrate great concern about the quality and accuracy of information circulating online. Despite finding significant differences in how these two platforms are used, the data suggests that WhatsApp is becoming central to how Brazilians have access to and engage with politics. https://journalqd.org/article/view/2587social mediaWhatsApppolitical informationmisinformationBrazil
spellingShingle Patricia Rossini
Érica Anita Baptista
Vanessa Veiga de Oliveira
Jennifer Stromer-Galley
Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
social media
WhatsApp
political information
misinformation
Brazil
title Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
title_full Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
title_fullStr Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
title_full_unstemmed Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
title_short Digital Media Landscape in Brazil: Political (Mis)Information and Participation on Facebook and WhatsApp
title_sort digital media landscape in brazil political mis information and participation on facebook and whatsapp
topic social media
WhatsApp
political information
misinformation
Brazil
url https://journalqd.org/article/view/2587
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AT ericaanitabaptista digitalmedialandscapeinbrazilpoliticalmisinformationandparticipationonfacebookandwhatsapp
AT vanessaveigadeoliveira digitalmedialandscapeinbrazilpoliticalmisinformationandparticipationonfacebookandwhatsapp
AT jenniferstromergalley digitalmedialandscapeinbrazilpoliticalmisinformationandparticipationonfacebookandwhatsapp