Can Civil Society Counteract Disinformation? Mobilising Collective Intelligence in Electoral Processes

While disinformation became one of the greatest challenges to democracy in recent years, usual measures to contain it such as platform regulation and media literacy seem insufficient to refrain the dangers misinformation poses to political processes, in particular elections. Whilst there is high expectation that both legislative and regulatory bodies will be able to curb the political damage caused by disinformation, the role of other counter-information actors and responses remain less known. Civil society’s organizations and initiatives aimed at fighting disinformation are rising in Europe and elsewhere. While research on the topic grows together with the number of civil society organizations and initiatives designed to tackle disinformation, very little is still known as to how civil society can counteract misinformation directed to disrupt political processes and institutions, in particular elections. Looking into Brazil, a country highly impacted by disinformation in previous years especially due to the leadership of far-right authoritarian president Bolsonaro, this paper seeks to examine the part played by civil society in fighting disinformation in electoral processes. We turned to Brazil’s 2022 presidential election to observe how its civil society engaged to avoid the spread of disinformation. We mapped and analyzed over 70 civil society initiatives launched in the months preceding the election and identified five strategies advanced by civil society to fight disinformation in the electoral process and beyond. We conclude that, by mobilizing collective intelligence using digital technology, civil society can expand the fight against disinformation beyond usual measures such as fact-checking.