“It really works like a pyramid,” stated Nemer, whose analysis focuses on Bolsonarism, misinformation, and social media, and the “human infrastructure” behind political misinformation that spreads by way of WhatsApp. “On the prime, you’ve got individuals who produce misinformation. Within the center, you’ve got Bolsonaro supporters who work like a swarm of bees to unfold misinformation on the platform. On the backside, it’s common Brazilians who’re in teams the place this misinformation finally ends up, they usually, in flip, unfold it to different teams they’re in.”
Communities, Nemer fears, will make it straightforward for the individuals on the prime to handle these misinformation networks.
Specialists like Nemer are proper to be involved. When WhatsApp introduced in April that it wouldn’t launch the characteristic till later within the yr, Bolsonaro was reportedly offended that the corporate wasn’t launching it instantly. In July, Brazil’s federal prosecutors reportedly requested the corporate to delay its launch till after the nation’s October elections to keep away from the unfold of pretend information and misinformation.
WhatsApp finally rolled out the characteristic 4 days after Bolsonaro’s defeat. When BuzzFeed Information requested if Meta had waited after the election to launch Communities, a WhatsApp spokesperson merely replied, “No.”
After this story was printed, a WhatsApp spokesperson instructed BuzzFeed Information that the characteristic wasn’t out there in Brazil but and wouldn’t be till January.
Through the years, WhatsApp has put guardrails in place to decelerate the unfold of misinformation on its platform, akin to clearly labeling forwarded messages, a significant supply of misinformation, and proscribing forwarding messages to solely 5 teams at a time. Now, the corporate is placing in an extra limitation: Individuals can solely ahead messages which might be forwarded to them to only one group at a time, as an alternative of 5.
“We consider this may meaningfully scale back the unfold of probably dangerous misinformation in neighborhood teams,” a WhatsApp spokesperson instructed BuzzFeed Information.
Nonetheless, Nemer is skeptical. “The thought — having a gaggle of teams — is nice,” he stated. “However what’s the level of forwarding limits when now you can submit one thing to a single Announcement group and nonetheless attain far more individuals than if you happen to have been to ship a single ahead to a single group?”
