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As Brazil copes with floods, officials face another scourge: Disinformation
Experts say online campaigns have targeted the floods in Rio Grande do Sul with fake news aimed at discrediting Lula.
Volunteers guide a boat with evacuees in Porto Alegre, Brazil, amid widespread flooding on May 16 [Adriano Machado/Reuters] The researchers who spoke to Al Jazeera explained that much of the disinformation shares a common theme: undermining the government. “What we’re really talking about is a coordinated, industrial-strength disinformation campaign designed to delegitimise the government and its actions to provide relief to flood victims,” said Brian Mier, an editor at BrasilWire who is covering the recovery in Rio Grande do Sul. A city park in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is submerged as a result of recent rains [Courtesy of Billy Valdez/Coletivo Catarse]Still, experts say that the volume of fake news surrounding this month’s flooding has not been seen since Bolsonaro’s 2018 election.
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