Crude, anonymous, partisan, sectoral and anti-elitist. Electoral disinformation in Spain (2019-2022)

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyse the electoral misinformation circulating in the public space as a whole during campaign periods. The sample is made up of 481 rebuttals published by the verification media Maldita.es, Newtral, Efe Verifica and Verificat in relation to 409 pieces of misinformation during the six campaigns carried out in Spain during the political cycle that began in the general election in November 2019, which also includes the regional elections held in Galicia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Madrid, Castilla y León, and Andalusia. The methodology consists of a content analysis of 13 variables articulated around five dimensions of study: scope of generation and/or dissemination, format, epistemological authority, prominence, theme, and discourse. The results show: (1) the predominance of the citizen space of social networks as a field for the generation and distribution of electoral misinformation; (2) the crude construction of misinformation, with a preponderance of text as a misinformation element accompanied by multimedia resources shared without alteration; (3) the pre-eminence of problematic materials disseminated anonymously and without citing sources and those actually distributed by the political class, especially the right wing; (4) the majority role of the political class, particularly the left, generally characterised in a negative manner, although the political class of the right receives a greater proportion of positive treatment; (5) the abundance of sectoral and ideological themes, with a prominent presence of attacking elites as the predominant populist discursive feature; and (6) the profusion of direct attacks on political rivals, especially related to ideological and management issues.