The rise of anti-immigration misinformation originating from far-right parties suggests a convergence in this matter between Chega in Portugal and Vox in Spain, concludes the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
“In EU [European Union] member states, evidence shows that far-right and populist parties are often sources of misinformation,” with examples being Chega and Vox, far-right parties in the Iberian Peninsula, states an EDMO report.
During the last European elections in Portugal, there was an increase in anti-immigration disinformation discourse by the far-right party Chega, suggesting, in some cases, a coordination with the far-right party Vox of Spain.
Furthermore, “misinformation is spread by a multiplicity of different actors […] in several countries, politicians are considered sources of widely shared false statements. In certain instances, even the Government or the State can spread or amplify misinformation.”
Foreign actors also play a role in compromising the integrity of information, highlighting disinformation campaigns that mimic trustworthy media sites to convey a particular message with greater credibility.
According to 2023 data, “foreign misinformation is being spread in 16 EU languages,” including Portuguese.
“Although foreign interference is not significant in Portugal, the parliamentary elections of March 2024 revealed a misinformation campaign spread through YouTube ads, with concealed foreign origins linked to South American and Brazilian actors,” notes the report.
According to the document, in the week of March 20 to 26, 2024, the Pravda network (a Russian disinformation network) was active in 19 EU countries, including Portugal, with the country “registering a spread of misinformation in Portuguese originating from Brazilian discourse,” concludes the observatory.
The European observatory’s report aimed to map the different types of misinformation actors in the EU and identify various misinformation authors in the 27 Member States.
