Elected officials and political analysts have long focused on the spread of misinformation through media platforms like X and Facebook. However, in many parts of the world, particularly in the Global South, misinformation often spreads via social messaging apps such as WhatsApp. A study by New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP) examined this phenomenon during Brazil’s 2022 presidential election.
The researchers found that deactivating access to multimedia content on WhatsApp reduced recall of false rumors circulating online before the election. This suggests that limiting exposure to such content might help curb disinformation. However, the same measure also decreased recall of true news headlines, though to a lesser extent than false information.
Notably, the study showed no change in belief in false news among participants or in levels of political polarization. “There is widespread concern that social media plays a crucial role in the spread of online misinformation,” said Tiago Ventura, lead author of the paper published in The Journal of Politics. He noted that despite concerns about WhatsApp’s role in spreading misinformation, its effects remain under-researched.
Ventura highlighted differences among users: frequent recipients of political content improved their ability to identify false rumors, while infrequent recipients became worse at spotting misinformation. Joshua A. Tucker from NYU emphasized understanding social media’s impact outside the U.S., given most users are international.
During their experiment, nearly 800 Brazilian participants were divided into treatment and control groups with different instructions regarding multimedia consumption on WhatsApp. Their recollection of true and false stories was then assessed relative to their platform usage.
Other authors include Rajeshwari Majumdar from Yale University and NYU Professor Jonathan Nagler. The research received support from several foundations including John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
