This article is an English-language republication of a report that was first carried in Portuguese by several of our partners. UOL’s version of the story, Lupa’s version of this story, and Estadão’s version of this story are all available online. Some additional edits have been made here for clarity and context.
In a landscape where disinformation remains one of the greatest threats to democratic integrity, the number of verification requests sent during the 2024 municipal election period in Brazil remained similar to the months leading up to the campaign. Given the intense misinformation in previous election years, a surge in verification requests was expected. However, the final numbers were a surprise.
Anticipating a new wave of election-related disinformation, and in partnership with Meedan, a collaborative initiative was established between Brazil’s six largest fact-checking agencies — AFP, Aos Fatos, Estadão Verifica, Lupa, Projeto Comprova, and UOL Confere. These groups shared questions and misinformation from their audiences in an integrated way. The objective was to understand misinformation circulating on social media and in private messaging groups during the election period and to jointly tackle a collective challenge that threatens the democratic process.
Read about the formation of the Confia coalition on our blog.
A collaborative perspective among news agencies
By joining forces, the agencies could analyze broad trends across their audiences’ verification requests, identify patterns, and exchange information to speed up their editorial processes. This collaboration was crucial for mapping the public’s primary concerns and identifying the most frequent topics that fueled misinformation.
From Aug. 6 until the second round of voting concluded on Oct. 27, Meedan found that the six agencies received a total of 2,369 verification requests — a substantial number but lower than fact-checkers had anticipated.
Sends over time
The significant shortfall in verification requests may be tied to growing apathy or distrust in the electoral process and democratic institutions, a trend that has been persistently bolstered by campaigns questioning the integrity of voting machines and various government bodies. Large numbers of voters abstained from participating in the municipal elections, further supporting this hypothesis.
Main Themes
(Source: Meedan report)
Themes that dominated verification requests
The joint analysis revealed some concerning patterns. Brazil continues to produce and distribute organized attacks on democratic institutions, and most verification requests centered on narratives that reinforced distrust in the electoral process. The prevalence of two such narratives — the alleged manipulation of electronic voting machines and supposed interference by the Supreme Federal Court in election results — illustrates that old misinformation still holds sway. The repetitive cycle of these false narratives suggests a deliberate strategy to keep previous claims alive and indicates that misinformation remains dangerous. Even if there’s less of it, misinformation is still persistent enough to pose a threat.
According to the fact-checking agencies, 44.6% of all verification requests were related to the integrity of the electoral process, and 49.4% of those submissions were specifically focused on electronic voting machines. This is a continuation of trends from previous elections, during which narratives that questioned the security and operation of voting machines dominated. Furthermore, 100 submissions were related to misinformation about election regulations, indicating persistent confusion about electoral rules.
Main Subthemes for Election Integrity
(Source: Meedan report)
Moral agendas as tools for polarization
Another key finding from the data was an increase in the use of topics related to morality to polarize public debate. Thirteen percent of submissions addressing morality were directly related to religion. Topics like the premature sexualization of children (16%), abortion (11%), and gender identity (14%) accounted for nearly 40% of morality-focused submissions, and these subthemes were often tied to religious narratives in an effort to influence voters.
This use of religion as a political tool demonstrates an attempt to engage specific voter groups, deepening ideological division and diverting attention away from broader political issues.
Main Subthemes for Morality
(Source: Meedan report)
Persistent narratives promoting Bolsonaro vs. Lula polarization
Even during the municipal elections, there was a strong presence of narratives that sought to polarize the electorate based on support for either former President Jair Bolsonaro or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the current president of Brazil. Forty-eight submissions containing partisan media highlighted this divide, showing how the political debate is still largely influenced by previous federal election dynamics.
Health and disinformation: The pandemic’s legacy
The COVID-19 pandemic left a legacy of misinformation about public health. Twenty-four items submitted to fact-checking agencies were related to health issues, with 70% of those submissions focusing on vaccines. This shows that despite the waning impact of the pandemic, vaccine-related content can still polarize the public and foster distrust, which is likely a reflection of the influence of anti-science narratives that have flooded the country in previous years.
AI and deepfakes: Much less prevalent than expected
With the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies, we anticipated a massive increase in the use of deepfakes and other AI mechanisms to spread disinformation. However, the use of AI for this purpose did not meet expectations. Most disinformation was not generated by AI, and when it was, the outputs primarily targeted women and LGBTQIAP+ candidates. It cannot be determined whether this is because of regulations imposed by the Electoral Justice system or due to limitations on the relative accessibility of AI technologies.
Fact-checking engagement is highest in the Southeast
The majority of verification requests (57%) came from the Southeast, indicating that there is much greater access to fact-checking mechanisms in this densely populated region of Brazil, which is also known for its large economy. This phenomenon may be related to regional disparities in digital infrastructure and education, highlighting the need to expand fact-checking coverage and access throughout other regions of the country in an effort to strengthen democratic institutions nationally.
(Source: Meedan report)
Toward the 2026 presidential election
Given this context, it is crucial to highlight the role of journalism and fact-checking as pillars of democracy. If specific forms of disinformation have persisted for the past two years and voter engagement is declining in major Brazilian cities, it is essential that we strengthen voters’ access to quality, fact-checked content in order to restore public trust in democratic processes and institutions.
The role of fact-checking agencies in this collective effort is to identify recurring deceptive narratives so that such organizations can efficiently and effectively address these themes during the upcoming 2026 presidential election.
Preparing for 2026 will also require finding nonpartisan allies to help promote media literacy. This alliance among Brazil’s leading fact-checking outlets was facilitated by Meedan’s Check software tool, a platform that enabled them to reach citizens directly on the closed messaging apps where media, rumors, and questions are popularly circulated and shared.
However, the fight against disinformation will not be won by fact-checking alone. Together, we must collaboratively and systemically strengthen public trust in democratic institutions and trustworthy media outlets so Brazilian society can fully exercise its voting rights from a well-informed perspective in 2026.
Signed by:
AFP, Aos Fatos, Estadão Verifica, Lupa, Projeto Comprova, UOL Confere, and Meedan
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