Abstract
This study aims to understand how Coordinated Image Text Sharing Behaviour (CITSB) was used on Facebook during the 2022 Brazilian election, focusing on posts containing images about Lula da Silva or Jair Bolsonaro, the candidates in the Brazilian run-off election (nā=ā509,219 Facebook posts). The analysis is based on a script to identify CITSB on Facebook and includes social network analysis and a manual review of the most shared content. Findings show that both sides of the political divide engaged in CITSB to share promotional campaign-related content, which included criticising their opponents and promoting social media lives. Partisan accounts engaged in CITSB not only in their silos but also in other spaces on Facebook, such as local buy-and-sell Facebook groups. This indicates that CITSB was used to get the vote of undecided voters. Finally, while pro-Bolsonaro accounts engaged in CITSB to spread conspiracy theories and misinformation, pro-Lula accounts engaged in CITSB to debunk false claims about Lula.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bastian, M., et al.: Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. ICWSM. 3(1), 361ā362 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v3i1.13937
Casas, A., Williams, N.W.: Images that Matter: online protests and the mobilizing role of pictures. Polit. Res. Q. 72(2), 360ā375 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912918786805
Fishman, A., et al.: Breach of Ethics: Exclusive: leaked chats between brazilian judge and prosecutor who imprisoned lula reveal prohibited collaboration and doubts over evidence (2019). https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/brazil-lula-operation-car-wash-sergio-moro/
Giglietto, F.: Coordinated image text sharing behaviour (2022). https://github.com/fabiogiglietto/CooRnet_ImgTxt
Giglietto, F., et al.: CooRnet: detect coordinated link sharing behavior on social media (2020). https://github.com/fabiogiglietto/CooRnet
Giglietto, F., et al.: It takes a village to manipulate the media: coordinated link sharing behavior during 2018 and 2019 Italian elections. Inf. Commun. Soc. 23(6), 867ā891 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1739732
Graham, T., et al.: Like a virus the coordinated spread of coronavirus disinformation. Queensland University of Technology (2020)
Gruzd, A., et al.: How coordinated link sharing behavior and partisansā narrative framing fan the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories. Soc. Net. Anal. Min. 12(1), 118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-022-00948-y
Hameleers, M., et al.: A Picture Paints a Thousand Lies? The effects and mechanisms of multimodal disinformation and rebuttals disseminated via social media. Polit. Commun. 37(2), 281ā301 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1674979
Keller, F.B., et al.: Political Astroturfing on Twitter: how to coordinate a disinformation campaign. Polit. Commun. 37(2), 256ā280 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1661888
Machado, C., et al.: A study of misinformation in WhatsApp groups with a focus on the brazilian presidential elections. In: Companion Proceedings of The 2019 World Wide Web Conference, pp. 1013ā1019 Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3308560.3316738
Newman, N., et al.: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022. University of Oxford, Oxford (2022)
Nicas, J., et al.: How Bolsonaro built the myth of stolen elections in Brazil (2022). https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/25/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-misinformation.html
Nizzoli, L., et al.: Coordinated behavior on social media in 2019 UK general election. In: Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, pp. 443ā454. AAAI (2021)
Powell, T.E., et al.: A Clearer Picture: the contribution of visuals and text to framing effects. J. Commun. 65(6), 997ā1017 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12184
Recuero, R., et al.: Bolsonaro and the Far Right: how disinformation about COVID-19 circulates on Facebook in Brazil. Int. J. Commun. 16, 148ā171 (2022)
Recuero, R., et al.: Discursive strategies for disinformation on WhatsApp and Twitter during the 2018 Brazilian presidential election. First Monday. 26(1) (2021). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v26i1.10551
Recuero, R., et al.: Hyperpartisanship, disinformation and political conversations on Twitter: the brazilian presidential election of 2018. In: Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, pp. 569ā578 (2020)
Ricard, J., Medeiros, J.: Using misinformation as a political weapon: COVID-19 and Bolsonaro in Brazil. Harvard Kennedy Sch. Misinformation Rev. 1(3) (2020). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-013
Soares, F.B., et al.: Infodemia e Instagram: como a plataforma Ć© apropriada para a produĆ§Ć£o de desinformaĆ§Ć£o sobre a hidroxicloroquina? Fronteiras - Estudos MidiĆ”ticos 23, 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.4013/fem.2021.232.07
Soares, F.B., et al.: Research note: Bolsonaroās firehose: how Covid-19 disinformation on WhatsApp was used to fight a government political crisis in Brazil. Harvard Kennedy Sch. (HKS) Misinformation Rev. 2(1) (2021). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-54
Soares, F.B., Recuero, R.: Hashtag Wars: political disinformation and discursive struggles on twitter conversations during the 2018 brazilian presidential campaign. Soc. Media + Soc. 7(2), 20563051211009070 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211009073
Weber, D., Neumann, F.: Amplifying influence through coordinated behaviour in social networks. Soc. Netw. Anal. Min. 11(1), 1ā42 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-021-00815-2
Yang, Y., Davis, T., Hindman, M.: Visual misinformation on Facebook. J. Commun. 73(4), 316ā328 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqac051
Yu, W.E.S.: A framework for studying coordinated behaviour applied to the 2019 Philippine midterm elections. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on Information and Communication Technology (ICICT 2021), pp. 721ā731 Springer (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2380-6_63
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
Ā© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Soares, F.B. (2023). From Sharing Misinformation to Debunking It: How Coordinated Image Text Sharing Behaviour is Used in Political Campaigns on Facebook. In: Ceolin, D., Caselli, T., Tulin, M. (eds) Disinformation in Open Online Media. MISDOOM 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14397. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47896-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47896-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-47895-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-47896-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)