The week in brief
During the second week of activity of IBERIFIER’s Rapid Response System (RRS), the team assessed three possible signals to the integrity of the electoral process. None of them has, for now, led to a notification to the platforms that have signed the EU Code of Conduct on Disinformation. Either their potential impact on the vote was limited, or the evidence gathered so far does not meet the standard the RRS requires before alerting a platform. The three signals remain under review.
This week also saw the launch of Comprobado 29N, an alliance of seven Spanish fact-checking organisations and more than twenty national and local media outlets. The fact-checkers coordinate their work so they do not duplicate efforts, share what they find, and publish their fact-checks in a single place. The partner media can republish these pieces free of charge or adapt them for their own audiences, so that verified information reaches more people. The alliance will stay active until 6 December, one week after election day and all members are accredited by the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) and/or the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
The RRS TEAM ASSESSED THREE POSSIBLE SIGNALS TO the integrity of the electoral process, none of them has, for now, led to a notification to the platforms
Comprobado was first organised for the 2019 general elections and again in 2023. This edition is the first to be organised within IBERIFIER, an observatory that brings together thirteen organisations from Spain and Portugal and is one of the regional hubs of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). Comprobado is one of the tasks IBERIFIER has committed to in its current EU-funded project. It brings together the Spanish fact-checkers in a shared system to log false claims, divide up the checks and spread the results through partner media. It is a collective effort by the fact-checkers, and its findings will also support the monitoring and rapid response work that IBERIFIER carries out during these elections.
Scams on how to vote, decontextualised materials, and fact-checks on immigration and gender equality
Over the past seven days, the false and misleading content checked by fact-checkers fell into three broad groups. The first concerns how to vote. Messages circulated with doubts about whether a ballot remains valid if a candidate’s name is crossed out, and with misleading claims about new procedures at polling stations. Scam messages also appeared, posing as requests to “confirm” a vote or as notices of polling-station duty. Faced with this confusion, fact-checkers also explained the rules: how the Senate ballot works and when it can be void, and how a recent court decision affects the voting rights of Spaniards registered abroad under the so-called “Grandchildren’s Law”.
fact-checkers found inaccurate figures and claims on immigration and on gender equality and lgtbi rights, as well as misreported statements about a party’s foreign ties and funding
The second group used old or decontextualised material to attribute positions to parties and voters. It included false claims about support for the Socialist Party, a fabricated video about a migrant woman and the vote for VOX, and news from several years ago presented as current. Out-of-date lists of public grants to associations and misreported statements by a foreign official about a party’s funding also circulated.
The third group concerns what parties and candidates say during the campaign. Fact-checkers found inaccurate figures and claims on immigration and on gender equality and LGTBI rights, as well as misreported statements about a party’s foreign ties and funding. Fact-checkers also confirmed some widely shared claims that turned out to be true, which is part of the same work.
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