Na pandemia, nem tudo que reluz é ouro: discutindo fake news e o fenômeno da pós-verdade em tempos de necropolítica no Brasil

Abstract

This present study investigates fake news and the post-truth phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. In order to support the research fieldwork on Twitter and Instagram both theoretically and methodologically, I adopted the cartographic method and analyzed, in 2020 and 2021, memes and comments created and shared by Internet users, recognizing that they were an invitation to take a critical look at the social repercussions of a time marked by intense political disputes. The main concepts that anchored the analyses are fake news, post-truth, necropolitics, and cyberculture. Researching memes and comments that expose Brazilian fake news means relying on the importance of the web to catalyze the creation and sharing of images and texts against government decisions. In this context, I investigated some Brazilian episodes that brought up themes such as the trivialization of the new coronavirus, possible treatments for the cure of the disease, the use of bots in the dissemination of fake news and online anti-vaccine movements, all of them having as a background the dissatisfaction with the way the Federal Government has been dealing with the pandemic in the country, and also reiterating the phenomenon of post-truth. Facing the complexity of this pandemic scenario in the country, the research recognized the need to think about education in/on the net in order to broaden the debate about the dangers of misinformation in the COVID-19 era. I reflected on considerations that present clues for the construction of this education, including the importance of checking information shared online, as well as the strategic use of memes and hashtags in cyberactivist practices that highlight Brazilian political episodes that feed the current denialism.