Misinformation Is Shaping The Colombian Election

Tech, social media, and in particular, fake news have played a significant role in the campaign, and in a pretty vicious way – so much so that the candidates decided to come together to sign a social media non-aggression pact, facilitated by the country’s main peace-building institution!

Much of it is negative, aimed at stoking fear of the other candidate. But with Colombia’s violent history and regional instability, it takes on an even more sinister edge. Lots of false claims have been floating about, some even swallowed by the candidates themselves (e.g. Petro asking for an official investigation on survey methodology following a fake report on it).

Social media is the second most popular way of consuming information about the campaign (or the most popular for young people) so its effects are far-reaching, but it seems to have amplified the ‘old’ way of doing politics. I think there’s certainly a story in this. Do let me know your thoughts.