Sem migué nas eleições: uma proposta de fact-checking colaborativo em São Luís/MA

Abstract

This work is the result of an action research which tested the viability of a collaborative and decentralized fact-checking model during the local elections in São Luís/MA in 2020. A digital platform called “Sem Migué” was created for that purpose, allowing volunteers to collaborate by posting their own fact checks of what was said by the candidates and other actors involved in the mayor’s race. The analysis investigated how such an experience could help its participants deal with disinformation, which has been often observed in digital networks as a political strategy of rallying support for populist and authoritarian narratives currently undermining the legitimacy of key institutions in liberal democracies. Fact-checking is constantly presented by the journalistic field as a response to that problem, but it has been repeatedly failing in correcting the damage caused by false information. Besides, it is usually based on models centered in technocratic professional journalism, which is not very open to the decentralization logic found in the contemporary media ecosystem. In the context of emergent dynamics of social bonding which seem to be transforming our regime of truth, the research seeked to find more democratic ways of navigating through that ecosystem. As a result, the educational potential of the project became evident. The experiment had the participation of 24 volunteers, who reported becoming more critic and proactive in news consumption after the project. Despite difficulties in engaging the participants in the fact-checking work itself, other possibilities for collaboration were identified, suggesting that the process is as important as the final product in this practice. The data analyzed was collected from the content posted on the platform’s website, as well as the results of three questionnaires applied among the volunteers, the participant observation conducted throughout the process and a focus group with part of the collaborators. The limitations and potentialities identified during this first experiment subsidized an updated version of the collaborative fact-checking model, which might be tested in future investigations.