An “office of hate” run by presidential staff in Brazil routinely spreads misinformation and maligns the opposition on social networks, an investigation into fake news has revealed, ZDNet reports. A former government leader in the Congress told the investigating committee about the “fake news central” outfit, based next to the presidential office in Brasília, which runs online communication with supporters. The "Office of Hate," which is orchestrated by the sons of president Jair Bolsonaro, produces daily global and national news reports and “sentiment analyses,” which are used to guide decision-making, as well as extensive use of bots to spread misinformation online. About 20,000 reais ($4,800) of public cash was paid every time bots were used to amplify the messages from the president's office. There are almost 1.3 million bots following the president's Twitter account alone. The committee will request the IPs of the computers used by the named staff to find evidence of whether taxpayer money was being used to spread fake news online.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/fake-news-probe-in-brazil-exposes-office-of-hate-within-government/ -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing [email protected].
