Spanish-language misinformation: What tech companies are doing and Mar-a-Lago narratives
Hey there!
My name is Lesley Cosme Torres. I’m a new reporter covering Spanish-language disinformation in South Florida elections for the Miami Herald. My work is funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation.
I’m no stranger to the flood of information coming from WhatsApp groups, Telegram channels and YouTube rabbit holes. I recently graduated from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where I did a Master’s thesis that focused on the impact that COVID-19 disinformation on social media had on Latino communities.
Political bombast and rhetoric have long been a part of the South Florida media landscape — in multiple languages. In Miami’s rich diversity, with a sizable Hispanic community, Spanish-language media can be a key source for election-related information. We recognize there is disagreement on what some consider misinformation and others see as reality. We want to explore that information flow and perception.
For this project we’re going to be looking at a couple of things: what is said locally through outlets such as Radio Mambí, Actualidad, Caracol Radio and Americano Media, and what narratives are being spread throughout Miami on social media platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram.
If you read or hear anything you find misleading, or find one of your family members talking your ear off about some fringe conspiracy theory they read on a WhatsApp group they were randomly added to, email me. I want this newsletter to be a place where you can find the newest Spanish-language disinformation research and the most prominent disinformation narratives on social media.
What are social media companies doing to combat Spanish-language disinformation in preparation for the 2022 midterms?
Tech companies and the U.S. government have taken actions to address Spanish misinfo & disinfo that will inevitably show up on social media during midterms. Critics say the measures aren’t enough, because there are not enough resources to hire culturally competent and bilingual employees. The Herald spoke to the Federal Communications Commission and the world’s largest social media companies.
We highlighted the following examples:
“Although Facebook and the other platforms have been under a fair amount of pressure to eliminate and contextualize disinformation on their platforms, their focus has been almost entirely on English language material,” said Tony Affigne, a Latino politics professor at Providence College. “So they’ve allowed a great deal of Spanish language disinformation to slip through the cracks.”
In the U.S., Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has announced they’re partnering with five fact-checking organizations to review content in Spanish: AFP, AP, PolitiFact, Reuters and FactCheck.org. They’ve also partnered with Telemundo and Univision to launch fact-checking tiplines in Spanish on WhatsApp, according to a Meta spokesperson.
The FCC, as a complaint-driven agency, will look into instances of what they call “media distortion” to see if they need to take action against the radio or TV station. Yet, they’ve never investigated a case in Spanish.
Narratives around the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
Following the FBI’s search on Aug. 8, conservative radio personalities and politicians spread narratives on social media and radio comparing the FBI to “secret police agencies in Latin American authoritarian regimes” and echoed claims on English-language right-wing media that this was politically motivated to discourage Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Media Matters for America, a progressive nonprofit, highlighted some recent examples:
Lourdes Ubieta, former host of Radio Mambí and current host of “Asi Esta El Mundo” a show that airs on conservative media company Americano Media. On her show, Ubieta falsely claimed that Democrats are trying to turn the United States into a dictatorship. “The Democrats are trying to do this without any judicial or ethical basis to disrupt, just like they do in Latin American dictatorships, like in Nicaragua, or in Venezuela, or in Cuba.” [Americano Media, 9/8/22 ]
In an Interview with Lourdes Ubieta, Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Núñez falsely stated that the FBI search was a “political revenge” plot to confuse voters: “This is not a question of terrorism, it’s not a question of serious crimes. This simply has to do with political revenge.” She added, “it is an opportunity for the Biden administration to try to confuse us and blind us from everything that is happening around the country.” [Americano Media, 9/8/22 ]
Russian propaganda reaches Spanish speakers through Russia’s global TV network, RT en Español
How Russian Propaganda Is Reaching Beyond English Speakers — The New York Times
RT en Español, the Spanish-language channel of Russia’s global TV network based in Moscow, posted a video statement on its Facebook page, which has 18 million followers, challenging the facts of the June attack on a Central Ukraine shopping mall. The video claimed that Russia’s air force had bombed a weapons cache supplied by Ukraine’s Western allies and included Spanish-language Russian propaganda justifying Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The New York Times highlighted the following examples:
Even though most social media companies have restrictions, Russia found a way around them. RT en Español created new accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube under the name Ahi Les Va and have continued to post Russian disinformation in Spanish to a group of new and impressionable followers.
“If you speak to people in Latin America, RT is viewed as just another media outlet to be read and trusted,” Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, said to The New York Times. “It is hugely influential.”
How to prepare for voting gaps and misinformation in the upcoming 2022 primary election.
Research by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit run by New York University School of Law, and First Draft, a nonprofit focused on teaching how to verify content on social media, found that new U.S. citizens and voters (who tend to mostly be Latino) face specific risks in encountering misinformation stemming from information gaps about U.S. voting procedures.
The Brennan Center for Justice highlighted some examples:
- Information gaps can specifically affect new voters and newly naturalized citizens, who may be less familiar with American elections than more experienced voters. These newly registered voters are more likely to be Latino.
- Election misinformation and disinformation targeting Spanish-speaking Latino communities is particularly harmful. According to Brennan Center research, these voters may face greater difficulties in recognizing disinformation which inevitably leads to information gaps around voting laws.
- The 2020 presidential election saw several examples of both bad actors and confused citizens spreading misinformation targeting Latino communities. For example, the center found election misinformation in Spanish included false claims created to intimidate voters, such as reports of ICE patrolling poll locations.
Here’s some of our previous coverage:
How the Radio Mambí sale escalated the fight over Miami’s Spanish-language airwaves
His Miami YouTube show helped push Cuban Americans to Trump. Now he wants to be mayor
Another conservative Radio Mambí host says he’s leaving as Miami station changes hands
Why George Soros is the GOP’s villain in the sale of a Spanish-language radio station
This story was originally published August 19, 2022 at 12:58 PM.