Platform-amplified disinformation: the social construction of Covid-19 in Brazil

• Ano de defesa: 2025
• Autor(a) principal: Campos, Felipe dos Reis
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Análise de Enquadramento; Constructivism; Construtivismo; Covid-19; Desinformação; Disinformation; Framing Analysis; Plataformas; Platforms; Problemas Sociais
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/6/6140/tde-27012026-152650/

Framing highlights some aspects of the socially constructed reality, reflecting the interests, beliefs, and ideologies of individuals and groups. Claims-making stems from an unfair condition that warrants attention, seeks collective traction from groups, mobilizes public and scientific support, and influences institutional response. Disinformation (when false, inaccurate, or out-of-context information is deliberately spread to deceive) distorts the public understanding of current social issues as it nurtures doubts, uncertainties, and polarization. Platform-mediated communication has drastically shifted framing and claims-making processes and, therefore, how society constructs contemporaneous risks. Covid-19 posed an unprecedented global health emergency, where several social actors framed and claimed the pandemic through a disinformation lens, aiming for their own benefit. Seeking to comprehend how different actors framed and claimed Covid-19 and delving into the implications of platform-mediated communication, this dissertation investigated Covid-19 framing by an influential domestic far-right group, right-wing partisan media outlets, and Brazil\'s elite newspapers. Upon employing mixed methods, three empirical articles approached the theme: the first focused on \"Brazil\'s Ministry of Health parallel cabinet,\" a group of former president Bolsonaro, his family, the top-tier of his administration, physicians and some political allies; the second investigated how far-right partisan media framed the \"early treatment\" for Covid-19; the latter examined how Brazil\'s elite news outlets portrayed Covid-19 disinformation. The findings indicate that social media platforms allowed a broad range of groups, once scrutinized by professional legacy media, to propagate misleading scientific claims, deceiving segments of society and influencing decision-making processes. Alongside the public discourse presented in scientific, mediatic, and political social arenas, the platform-mediated debate significantly influenced framing and being a relevant part of the social construction of Covid-19. In Brazil (and possibly elsewhere), disinformation handled on platforms might be pivotal in framing emerging GH and environmental crises. This study further warns that Covid-19 has not only reshaped our now but also heralds a perilous tomorrow: upcoming socioenvironmental issues will likely be framed (and distorted) by the same unregulated disinformation- prone platforms.