The tool for mapping disinformation against the Brazilian electoral system

During the 2024 legislative elections, while already looking ahead to the 2026 presidential elections, Pacto pela Democracia, in partnership with Meedan, launched the first year of the Confia project—a WhatsApp-based service designed to map disinformation circulating about the electoral process.

Through a chatbot on WhatsApp, anyone will be able to send false news and hate speech related to the Brazilian electoral process and the 2024 elections. Accepted formats include text messages, videos, links, or photos.

The aim of the service is to map this content, identify the narratives and groups seeking to destabilize democracy, and from there, develop actions and strategies for the defense of democracy, focusing primarily on the presidential elections of 2026. Additionally, Confia aims to promote public engagement around the deconstruction of fake news.

“Mapping, classifying, and analyzing the processes of disinformation circulating during the 2024 municipal elections will enable civil society to create counter-narratives and also effective strategies to defend the integrity of the elections and the democratic institutions in future electoral processes—especially in the presidential elections of 2026,” states Flavia Pellegrino, Executive Coordinator of the Pact for Democracy.

Confia is an initiative led by the organizations of the Pact for Democracy, in partnership with Meedan, a nonprofit organization specializing in developing digital tools for reliability and accessibility in information distribution.

How Confia Works

Users who identify disinformation content will forward a message, screenshot, news link, or images to the WhatsApp number +55 71 40404119.This content will go into a database that will integrate reports.

Through this contact, it will also be possible to request reliable and secure content about the electoral process.