Fake news e redes sociais como ferramentas de campanha nas eleições de 2018 no Brasil

Abstract

This Paper aims to outline the debate on social media’s influence and contribution in regards to the spreading of fake news during the 2018 presidential campaign in Brazil. Social media has been gaining significant relevance in electoral campaigns with impact over how the voters vote. Studies substantiate that the virtual environment had great influence over Donald Trump’s election in the United States in 2016, and that social media benefited the candidate with an intense fraudulent campaign, using fake news from a post-truth perspective, which also can be observed in the 2018 Brazilian election. The justification for this research is based on the evident similarities between the 2016 American and the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections, where the use of analogous campaign tools by the presidential candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro to reach victory are noticeable. The electoral justice was faced with the challenge of combating fake news, however, it is undeniable that the Superior Electoral Court could not manage to contain fake news dissemination given the speed with which it spreads. Therefore, it can be concluded that although the STF has tactics to prevent and punish the spread of this type of news, these have shown to be insufficient. For this reason, there is a demand for alternative solutions, such as more effective laws, for both providers and Internet users, that intend to combat the crime in focus. In methodological terms, we chose a qualitative approach, for the purposes, exploratory, as the procedure will be bibliographic and documentary, through books, articles, periodicals, internet, in addition to journalistic publications.