Five false narratives after Venezuela 28-J election

Last Sunday, July 28, Venezuela held its long-awaited presidential election. The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared candidate Nicolás Maduro the winner early on Monday, July 29, assuring that an irreversible trend had emerged, even though all the votes had not yet been counted. Three days later, the CNE has still not made public the electoral record that supports its decision.

Later that month, on the 28th, the leader of the opposition, María Corina Machado, announced that they had obtained the voting records and that they had chosen as the winner Edmundo González, the candidate she had supported in 2017. She was disqualified As a presidential candidate.

Most governments in the Americas have yet to recognize Maduro’s declaration of victory and are demanding that the government and the National Electoral Council make public the electoral records of the winner. Meanwhile, the streets of Venezuela were filled with protesters, most of whom opposed the government’s declaration of Maduro’s victory without evidence. Many of the 8 million Venezuelan emigrants protested from around the world, alleging fraud. In just three days since the CNE declared President Maduro’s victory, authorities inside Venezuela have been repressed already left At least 13 people were killed and more than 700 were arrested.

All of this is happening against a backdrop of widespread dissemination of false or biased digital information, media censorship and blackouts, and journalistic witch hunts. For example, on July 4, fact-checking media sites Fake news hunter, This is straw yes Venezuelan Fake News Observatory Blocked Provided by Venezuela’s main Internet operator. On July 22, the website Tarkur, Stimulus measures, Run, run, run, analyze, Public places, Media Analysis yes VEsinFiltro They suffered the same fate.

In any case, Medianalisis has investigated and dispelled election misinformation since before the election period (Cotejo website yes Venezuelan Observatory of Fake News – OVFN –), Cocuyo effect (and its verification unit Cocuyo inspection), Fake News Hunter yes Probox, a member of C-INFORMA Alliancewhich is part of the Los Ilusionistas Journalism Alliance and coordinated by the Latin American Journalism Research Center (CLIP). Here, journalists and digital researchers from 15 media outlets and organizations in Latin America collaborated to investigate the spread of false information and the manipulation of public dialogue in digital media during 2024, Latin America’s “super election year”.

Here, we present the five most common false narratives about the Venezuelan election last week, as C-Information Technology, also Link To check this error message.

Fake polls and fake exit results

As we have already told In the story before “The Magician”, The publication of the so-called survey was used as a tool to manipulate voters.

As Election Day approached, the trend persisted and was reflected in so-called exit polls (or Exit polls) on voting day on social networks, even though Venezuela’s electoral procedure law (Lopre) prohibits doing so.

examine:

During voting day, the team Sifma We were able to document how a media outlet that normally publishes false information spread poll-related content on the afternoon of July 28. The specific case was account X (formerly Twitter) Venezuela News, What people polls about the election and then delete them.

The C-INFORMA team successfully captured Venezuela News And confirmed that this was the exit poll conducted by the Center for Measurement and Interpretation of Statistical Data (CMIDE 50.1), which said that Nicolás Maduro had won the election at 2 pm.

The C-INFORMA team investigates and monitors these false contents Exit polls From May to July 20, 2024, he has registered at least 61 articles on different media and social media accounts declaring Maduro’s victory. In June alone, 41 publications were recorded, while companies such as Ideadatos, Dataviva and Data Política published as many as two investigations that month.

In the specific case of CMIDE 50.1, a polling agency that was identified as an opinion analysis company, it was decommissioned by the company several years ago and now uses data Humorous memes, romantic phrases and football Spreading so-called polls that favor Nicolás Maduro.

Falsification of documents and statements of Edmundo González and Maria Corina Machado

Much of the information that circulated before the elections showed documents that were allegedly signed by opposition candidates or by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was prevented from launching those elections. In other cases, statements that circulated were falsely attributed to one of those two politicians. These false documents and false statements hinted at supposed policies that the opposition would pursue if it won the elections (or in some cases if it lost the elections). But they were actually impersonations and fabrications.

examine:

1 – Fake News Hunter: “The mass dismissal document purportedly signed by Maria Corina Machado, Edmundo González and Jose Guerra is fake”.

2 – Media analysis (Cotejo.info and OVFN): “Maria Corina Machado’s call for a ‘Guarimba’ if Edmundo González Urrutia is not elected is false”.

3 – Cocuyo effect: “The tickets in the names of Edmundo Gonzalez and his wife Mercedes Lopez were fake”.

Misinformation about Edmundo Gonzalez’s health

Another series of lies focused on the opposition candidate’s alleged poor health, attempting to make him appear unfit for office. These attacks were concentrated in the days leading up to the election.

examine:

1 – Fake News Hunter: «Edmundo Gonzalez is not “bound” during his trip to Las Vegas».

2 – Fake News Hunter: “Edmundo González did not decompensate at opposition rally in Maracaibo”.

3 – Media Analysis (Cotejo.info and OVFN): “Edmundo González Urrutia does not have a terminal illness”.

Since May, many lies have been circulating in some media and social networks about González’s age and health. According to C-INFORMA monitoring, Diosdado Cabello, the first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), was the first to mention the alleged condition of his opponent in the show “Con el Mazo Dando” on May 15. He said that González Urrutia was “physically and mentally weak.”

The next day, the account on the social network 104.9 FM.

At least six publications were recorded between July 16 and 17 stating that Edmundo González was allegedly ill and then relapsed during Mass at the Virgen del Carmen Church in Petare. They did not provide evidence that this was true.

The information comes from a website called elnoticiero.net (“Critical situation: Edmundo González’s cancer forces him to suspend his campaign agenda – EL NOTICIERO”).

Misinformation about the election process

As with elections in other countries, there are many lies about the voting rules in Venezuela. Many times, these confusing reports are spread in order to prevent citizens from voting or to sow doubts about confidence in the election.

examine:

1 – Fake News Hunter: “National Election Commission: No masks or dress code required when voting”.

2 – Cocuyo effect: “The voting machines voted for Edmundo Gonzalez without delay”.

3 – Media Analysis: (Cotejo.info and OVFN): ‘Violent fight over chairs’ misinformation claims at voting centre during Venezuelan presidential election

Statement Regarding Maria Corina Machado’s Alleged Acts of Violence

Finally, the fifth major piece of misinformation seen by the C-Informa team was accusing Machado of violence and inciting violence and terrorism. This is a typical black campaign operation against a candidate. Although in this case, it was not directed at the candidate, but at the most visible figure in the opposition.

examine:

1 – Cocuyo effect: “Maria Collina is wrong to claim that motorcycle taxis and motorcycle stunt performers should be eliminated”.

2 – Media analysis (Cotejo.info and OVFN): «Maria Corina Machado is wrong when she says “no public official should be forgiven”

3 – Media Analysis: (Cotejo.info and OVFN): Maria Corina Machado did not declare to Infobae that “if Edmundo González is not elected, there will be a new Guarimba”

The claims that Machado is “violent,” “undermining public services,” and “does not want elections” that C-INFORMA found were among the most persistent since monitoring began in May, and persisted even after the election.

There are several aspects of the alleged violence linked to Maria Corina Machada. They accuse her of paying violent groups to create chaos, and also accuse her of trying to sabotage public services and calling for the invasion of foreign armies, such as Argentina and Israel.

28J After the election results were announced, X users pointed out that she was the main funder and planner of violence and death in the protests.

A journalistic investigation to debunk political misinformation in Latin America’s 2024 “super election year.” Led by the Center for Latin American Journalism Studies (Clip)and Intercept Brazil, Intraocular Lenses yes Based on facts (Brazil), lighthouse (El Salvador), Citizen Lab (Honduras), Political Animals yes Mexicans fight corruption (Mexico), news yes Panama Focus (Panama), IDL Reporter yes Public Eyes (Peru), Free Diary (Dominican Republic), The Observer (Uruguay), Fake News Hunter, Cocuyo effect, Treasure ChestC-Informa and Media Analysis (Venezuela).