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Trending: The Anti-Vax Files: Brazil’s bubble of bad information

Factual

The Anti-Vax Files

01/05/2021 GMT

Brazil’s bubble of bad information

BBC World Service - Trending, The Anti-Vax Files, Brazil’s bubble of bad information

Why are some Brazilians unable to check information they receive via chat apps?

Why do some of Brazil’s poorest find themselves unable to double check health information they receive via chat apps?

A helicopter carrying vaccines is greeted in a by a crowd in an indigenous village – and the villagers are armed with bows and arrows. 
It’s just one, thankfully rare incident. But it’s a symptom of the creeping misinformation hitting some of Brazil’s most remote communities.
But rather than being a vestige of traditional ideas or village life, rumours about health and vaccines are being spread in a very modern way. 
Mobile phone operators in Brazil often include free data in their user plans, but the package is limited only to select social media platforms. These plans, popular in poorer, rural and indigenous communities, allow Brazilians to spend hours online for free – but limit access to other apps and alternative sources of online information. 
It means Brazil’s poorest can find themselves unable to check what they’re reading on chat apps – and stuck in a misinformation bubble.
And the fact that some religious and political leaders – including President Jair Bolsonaro – have been spreading falsehoods and anti-vax messages doesn’t help either.
In Brazil, the uptake of vaccines in indigenous communities is now significantly lower than expected – but the news isn’t all bad. We meet indigenous people trying to convince their families to take the jab.

Presenter: Mike Wendling
Reporter: Juliana Gragnani
Producer: Jonathan Griffin

Trending: The Anti-Vax Files

We investigate how anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message.

Scientists say only a vaccine will get us out of the pandemic. So why do some feel the anti-vax movement has grown stronger than ever over the last year?

In a new series from BBC Trending a team of disinformation reporters investigate how hard-core anti-vaccine activists have used social media to spread their message far and wide, capitalising on fear and mistrust to advance their own agendas during the pandemic.

BBC Trending: The Anti-Vax Files explores how the movement has manifested across the world, from France – portrayed as one of the most vaccine-sceptic countries in the world – to India, South Africa, and Germany. The team also uncovers the extraordinary stories of people fighting online against this misinformation and those who are actively promoting the facts and the science behind vaccination - often working without pay or institutional support.

The series will turn the spotlight on the world’s social media giants asking whether they turned a blind eye, or just acted too late in countering misinformation about vaccines. It will also look at more traditional sources of information – journalists, governments, and health officials – and ask whether they simply weren’t ready for the “infodemic” that was to come with the virus.

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