Florianópolis, Brazil – Floods in southern Brazil hit close to rooftops, turning roads into rivers and swallowing entire cities. More than 2.3 million people felt the effects of the rising waters. A total of 161 people have been confirmed dead, and more bodies are expected to be found.
Authorities called torrential rain and flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul “the worst climate disaster” the area has ever seen.
But they stated that the tragedy is being amplified by another phenomenon: disinformation, intentionally designed to deceive.
Some articles, videos and posts claimed that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government had blocked the shipment of aid and medicine to the region. Others said Lula deliberately delayed the arrival of supplies so he could present them in person.
Still others claimed that government rescue teams were leaving southern Brazil, leaving residents to fend for themselves.
All three statements are false. But experts in social media and political science told Al Jazeera that misinformation continued to spread, often with real-world ramifications.
“I’m very worried about this,” said Rogério Christofoletti, a media professor who studies ethics and transparency at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, north of Rio Grande do Sul.
“The volume of fake news is very large and can foster a climate of distrust.”
Hindering recovery efforts
Some of the fake news, for example, cast doubt on government flood warnings, intended to provide citizens with vital information about life-threatening circumstances.
Christofoletti added that misinformation may have even discouraged some volunteers and donations, as residents of Rio Grande do Sul continue to suffer.
Volunteers were crucial in early rescue efforts. Concerned citizens arrived in boats and jet skis from nearby neighborhoods and towns to remove stranded residents from rooftops and transport them to safety.
But false messages warned that government officials were preventing volunteers from using their own boats in rescue efforts.
Other pieces of disinformation have had consequences even in areas far from the floods. Supermarket shelves have been emptied of rice as rumors circulate online.
False posts on social media warned that, as Rio Grande do Sul produces 70% of Brazil’s rice, the country was running out of basic foods.
But rice farmers in the region dismissed such concerns as exaggerated, telling local media that more than 84 percent of the season’s crop had already been harvested when the rains began.
However, the federal government responded to concerns by announcing that it would import one million tons of rice. It also suspended tariffs on rice imports on Tuesday.
Targeting the government
Researchers who spoke to Al Jazeera explained that much of the disinformation shares a common theme: undermining the government.
False information often emerges after a disaster, as people struggle to react to developing – and sometimes dangerous – circumstances.
And yet, not all misinformation is purposefully misleading. Even so, research released last week by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul found that most false information was spread by “far-right influencers, websites and politicians.”
This puts it in a separate category: misinformation, or the intentional dissemination of inaccurate materials.
The study’s investigators concluded that bad actors “used the commotion to promote themselves and spread disinformation, with the aim of attacking and discrediting the government.”
“They want to divert people’s attention,” Christofoletti said. “It’s a perfect time for these opportunists who want to attack the State, attack other political groups and take advantage of the situation.”
One of the main targets of disinformation is Lula, a prominent left-wing leader in Latin America who is currently serving his third term as president.
“What we are really talking about is a coordinated, industrial-strength disinformation campaign designed to delegitimize the government and its actions to provide aid to flood victims,” said Brian Mier, an editor at BrasilWire who is covering the recovery in the Rio Grande South. South.
“And in many cases, it’s actually sabotaging some of the relief efforts.”
Lula in the crosshairs
Lula has already visited Rio Grande do Sul three times since the floods began on April 29.
In the first week of the torrential rains, your government reported having sent 14,500 federal employees to help with relief efforts, including military and medical professionals.
The Lula administration also promised US$10 billion to help resolve the damage. Another billion is expected to come from a development bank founded by the BRICS, an international trade alliance of which Brazil is a founding member.
“We are going to build a new house for everyone who lost one,” Lula announced at a shelter in the flood-ravaged city of São Leopoldo last week.
But the posts downplayed the scale of the government’s rescue efforts or heightened tensions with local residents.
Some of the false information that circulated, for example, claimed that Brazil sent few helicopters to Rio Grande do Sul and refused assistance from neighboring Uruguay.
Paulo Pimenta, a minister leading reconstruction efforts in Rio Grande do Sul, also said a video circulating online appeared to show him being attacked in a disaster shelter.
In an article for the media outlet Brasil247, Pimenta said that the dissemination of this false information has consumed time and resources from other needs.
“I spend hours of my day debunking some new story invented to delegitimize the actions of around 20,000 public servants, both civilian and military, who have already rescued more than 60,000 people and 6,000 animals,” wrote Pimenta.
He warned that, although the Lula government does not censor positions, any “lies” that “hinder the rescue, restoration and reconstruction work” could be punished.
Roots of disinformation in Brazil
Fake news, however, is not a new phenomenon.
“This has always existed in Brazil,” said João Feres Junior, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
“The only thing is that the Internet has made everything easier and faster and at the same time the far right has adopted it as their communication modus operandi.”
Many experts have pointed to the 2018 presidential election as a turning point, marking a sharp rise in misinformation.
During the election, supporters of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro flooded popular social media platforms like WhatsApp with conspiracy theories, helping propel the former military man to victory.
Critics say Bolsonaro continued to promote disinformation during his presidency. They accuse him of establishing a “hate cabinet” within the government that used social media to defame political rivals and sow distrust in the electoral system.
In 2019, the Supreme Court launched an investigation into the disinformation campaign. The following year, the Federal Police raided the homes and businesses of 17 Bolsonaro allies, suspected of spreading false news.
Among them were businessman Luciano Hang and far-right bloggers Allan dos Santos and Winston Lima. Eight parliamentarians allied with Bolsonaro were also summoned to give testimony.
Additionally, deputy Daniel Silveira and far-right influencer Sara Winter were arrested for making online threats against the Federal Supreme Court during the investigation.
As part of a plea bargain agreement in 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, a former Bolsonaro ally, testified that Carlos, the former president’s son, commanded the “hate office”.
Looking at the election period
Still, experts say the volume of fake news surrounding this month’s flooding has not been seen since Bolsonaro’s election in 2018.
Political scientist Luciana Santana said the current disinformation campaign is “largely a result of political polarization in the country.”
“It’s perverse, but it’s a strategy used by the opposition to delegitimize actions that in my opinion are positive and necessary to protect the population at this time,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Like it or not, this is harming the population and the state’s reconstruction process.”
But Santana said it wasn’t just the scale of the flooding and the public response that caught the attention of far-right internet trolls. It is also the prospect of harming political rivals at the polls.
In October this year, Brazil is expected to hold municipal elections. Then, in 2026, the country will return to the polls to vote for vacancies in Congress and the presidency.
Mier, editor of BrasilWire, believes that misinformation sellers hope to take votes from Lula and his allies in the next elections by misrepresenting his government’s efforts to address the floods.
“The far right is really worried because the federal government is coming in with a lot of money and a lot of military troops,” he said of the flooding. “They are getting worried about how this will affect the election. And so they’re trying to present these counter-narratives.”
Local journalist Gustavo Turck lives just a few blocks from where the floods hit the city of Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
He told Al Jazeera that the misinformation is highly “organized,” targeting a vulnerable population with “precise methodology” and dividing residents along partisan lines.
“It’s like a football rivalry. And many people are being influenced by these lies,” Turck said.
“This is the political fight we are seeing. And, unfortunately, it is on the backs of the people, the population and the city that was destroyed.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
