On 8 January 2023, following a contentious national election, protestors attacked government buildings in Brazil’s capital. The riots were preceded by years of online disinformation, targeting lawmakers and the country’s electoral process. Striking parallels with the storming of the US Capitol two years prior underline the role that transnational networks play in pushing disinformation globally, and that of big tech standing idly by (at best).

In this episode of Europe Listens, ECFR’s Rafael Loss and Jana Puglierin welcome Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director, disinformation researcher, and big-tech watcher at Ekō, a global non-profit organisation advancing corporate accountability. How does online disinformation affect Brazilian politics? What role do social media giants play in spreading fake news? And how can companies, legislators, and civil society in Brazil and Europe stem the tide of AI-powered disinformation in the future?

This podcast was recorded on 16 June 2023.

Other episodes of this season:

Episode 1: Overcoming the global digital divide with Jane Munga 

Episode 3: Governing outer space with Ruvimbo Samanga

Further reading:

Stop the steal 2.0. How Meta is subverting Brazilian democracy by SumOfUs (now Ekō)

Everyone saw Brazil violence coming. Except social media giants by Mark Scott

Gendered disinformation: 6 reasons why liberal democracies need to respond to this threat by Ellen Judson

Democratic defence: How Italy can lead the fight against Russian disinformation by Gabriele Carrer, Teresa Coratella and Silvia Samorè

Europe Listens: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini

Short interviews and comments by our experts and others on breaking news and key topics from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) - the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007, our objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent and effective European values-based foreign policy.

Listen also to Mark Leonard's The World in 30 Minutes, our weekly series in which we explore the big issues in foreign policy: https://soundcloud.com/ecfr

Europe Listens: Combatting online disinformation with Flora Rebello Arduini

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