Tipologia de mensagens falsas sobre a covid-19 no Brasil

Abstract

The study presented in this article analyzed characteristics of fake news and false rumours, differentiated by the incorporation or absence of features of official press and of the media. The research evaluated mate-rial about the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, between January and December 2020, using the database from the Latam Chequea Coronavirus project, containing 838 false messages disseminated on social media, as well as blogs and newsbrands, and after being subjected to cut-off criteria 473 of them were analysed. The The study presented in this article analyzed characteristics of fake news and false rumours, differentiated by the incorporation or absence of features of official press and of the media. The research evaluated mate-rial about the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, between January and December 2020, using the database from the Latam Chequea Coronavirus project, containing 838 false messages disseminated on social media, as well as blogs and newsbrands, and after being subjected to cut-off criteria 473 of them were analysed. The nalysis employed 33 categories outlined in the literature, divided among characterization, type, theme, and persuasion techniques. The results revealed that: 86,89% of the messages were rumors; the most frequent themes were “prophylaxis and cure”, “politics”, and “public prevention”; the appeal to authority was present in 76,74% of the messages and it was the most frequent persuasion technique, followed by emotional appeal (64,90%). The research has demonstrated how persuasion techniques support the themes of fake news and false rumors regarding the pandemic.