Brazil Has Disinformation “Cyber Troop”, According to British Research Study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A study by Oxford University released in January pointed out that 81 countries – among them Brazil – were scenarios of “computational propaganda” and “industrialized disinformation” campaigns on political issues in 2020. These initiatives were promoted by government agencies and other institutional or private actors – companies, parties and digital influencers.

In the study, the country features “cyber troops” dedicated to attacking government opponents and increasing social polarization, among other goals. In its array of tools were fake news. These fake news, created to manipulate public opinion, were massified by social network bots.

“In the global disinformation industry, Brazil is positioned as a country with medium-capacity ‘cyber troops,'” said researcher Antonella Perini. She is a member of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) Computational Propaganda Research Project. The group of researchers found that, compared to 2019, there was substantial growth in the number of countries with this type of activity, from 70 to 81.

Brazil “secured” its presence on the Oxford list, positioned among countries with medium capacity of industrialized disinformation, pointed out the report released on January 13th. The “troops” actions were marked by recent activity, on a permanent basis, with some centralization, use of financial resources and the existence of a central coordination.

Brazil is joined by Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Cuba, Hungary, Poland, Mexico, Syria and Turkey in the intermediate group. In total, there are 37 countries in this group. They employ full-time staff. They promote initiatives “for the manipulation of social media”. Some operate outside their respective national borders, says the report.

“The most-used strategies in Brazil were pro-government messages, attacks on the opposition and polarization,” said Antonella Perini. “More often, attacks are directed against journalists and the media who are critical of the government, against politicians, and against public servants.”

Ranking

The British university’s research points to a group of 17 countries. Its “troops”, it says, have “high capacity” to disinform. The United States, China, United Kingdom, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq are featured. To “mislead” the public, they use fake news and other tricks. They resort to automated accounts, organized reporting campaigns and even stolen profiles. Their activities involve many people and considerable spending. The money is used for psychological operations and information warfare.

“These teams not only operate during elections, but involve full-time employees dedicated to shaping the information,” the report continues. “High-capacity cyber troop teams focus on domestic and foreign operations. They can also allocate funds to state-sponsored media for open propaganda campaigns.”

A third group has only a low capacity in the area of computational propaganda. There are 27 countries listed, among them Argentina, Colombia, Spain and South Africa. Their actions involve “teams that may be active during elections or referenda, but stop their activities until the next electoral cycle.”

According to the study, almost US$60 million (over R$300 million) has been spent on disinformation services worldwide since 2009. These services have been provided by private companies worldwide. The number of “computational propaganda” campaigns directed by governments or parties, grew constantly over the years surveyed, points out the study.

“In 2020, we found private companies operating in 48 countries, implementing computational propaganda on behalf of a political actor,” reads the text. “These companies often open sock puppet accounts, identify audiences for micro-targeting, or use bots or other amplification strategies to boost the trend of certain political messages.”

The same report recalls how major communication platforms have recently intervened in this scenario. They have taken down accounts apparently managed by “cyber troops” to launch political attacks.

‘News desert’

Thirty-four million Brazilians do not have access to local journalism. Six out of ten municipalities in Brazil are in this situation, called “news deserts”. The data is included in the results obtained in the fourth edition of the Atlas of News, released on Tuesday.

The survey pointed to an increase of 10.6% in the base of media outlets – with a strong digital presence. The registration of these new digital media led to a reduction in the number of “deserts” by about 5.9% compared to the survey’s last edition, a year ago.

Source: Tribuna de Minas