FakeNews

Quora Answer : Why is the English term "fake news" being widely adopted by the Brazilian press, rather than the Portuguese translation "notiçias falsas"? Is this not a demonstration of contempt for the national language?

Oct 24, 2018

The value of using "Fake News" is that it ties what's going on in Brazil to a global phenomenon.

For example, in the UK, we use "Fake News" in the context of Brexit : Fake news handed Brexiteers the referendum - and now they have no idea what they're doing

Using it in Brazil highlights just how much in common the fake news in Brazil has with the same phenomena elsewhere.

There ARE the same techno-social forces behind it ... the rise of social media and the ability of platforms like Whatsapp and Facebook to let people send highly targeted and fine-tuned propaganda adverts, often without this registering as official the "campaign spending" (and therefore violating campaign spending limits). Furthermore by targeting "influencers", the memes often get huge traction as they are copied by ordinary users.

There are the same people behind it. Cambridge Analytica seems to be gone as an actual entity. But Steve Bannon is advising Bolsonaro. And undoubtedly that whole global web of far-right activism he leads is supporting the Bolsonaro campaign too.

The same social situation is behind it. A population fed-up with the status quo and an establishment / political class who have lost credibility with them. In fact the "cognitive establishment" (government, universities, intellectuals, scientists, schools) is rapidly losing any authority now that anyone with an interest in challenging it can package up a series of "doubts" in a slick video and get a million viewers for it on YouTube.

A discussion about a rather parochial thing called "notiçias falsas" would obscure those global connections. And the global phenomenon.