The Human Infrastructures of Misinformation: A Case Study of Brazil’s Heteromated Labor

Nemer, David; Marks, William

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117214 Copy

Description

Title

The Human Infrastructures of Misinformation: A Case Study of Brazil’s Heteromated Labor

Author(s)

• Nemer, David
• Marks, William

Issue Date

2024

Keyword(s)

• Misinformation
• WhatsApp
• Brazil
• Far-Right
• Heteromation
• Infrastructure
• Labor

Geographic Coverage

Brazil

Abstract

Behind the black boxes of algorithms promoting or adding friction to posts, technical design decisions made to affect behavior, and institutions stood up to make decisions about content online, it can be easy to lose track of the heteromation involved, the humans spreading disinformation and, on the other side, moderating –or choosing not to moderate –it. This can be aptly shown in the case of the spread of misinformation on Whatsapp during Brazil's 2018 general elections. Since WhatsApp runs on a peer-to-peer architecture, there was no algorithm curating content according to the characteristics or demographics of the users, which is how filter bubbles work on Facebook. Instead, a human infrastructure was assembled to create a pro-Bolsonaro environment on WhatsApp and spread misinformation to bolster his candidacy. In this paper, we articulate the labor executed by the human infrastructure of misinformation as heteromation. 

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Series/Report Name or Number

Cambridge Studies on Governing Knowledge Commons

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

• NSF: SES
• Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences
• #2017495

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