“Vendepatria” y “Antivacuna”: Opinocracia y desinformación en WhatsApp en el proceso constitucional 2023 en Chile

Marcelo Santos; Antonia Flores; Jorge Ortiz

doi:10.5354/0719-1529.2024.73089

“Vendepatria” and “Anti Vaccine”: Opinocracy and disinformation on WhatsApp in the 2023 constitutional process in Chile

Authors

Abstract

This study examines the circulation of political information and disinformation in 214 public WhatsApp groups during the 2023 electoral campaign for the election of the constitutional council in Chile. Computational and content analysis methods were applied to quantify the proportion of different types of political information that circulated in the groups: creative, disinformation, uncivil, information, mobilization and opinion. A significant asymmetry in activity was identified between progressive and conservative groups, with the latter presenting habits more related to information disorders. The findings thus suggest a strong tendency for users with values aligned with the political right to spread conspiracy theories and false facts, mixing politics and health; national with international. Progressive groups, in comparison, show a more informative activity while conservatives display a tendency to privilege opinion content. It highlights the importance of investigating closed digital environments and disinformation in contexts that make verification and public scrutiny difficult.

Keywords:

misinformation, informative habits, Chile, WhatsApp, Constitution

Author Biographies

Marcelo Santos, Diego Portales University

Doctor in Communication Sciences, Master in Communication and Semiotics, and Associate Professor at Diego Portales University. He is a researcher at the CICLOS-UDP center and an associate researcher at the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of Politics, Public Opinion, and Media (MEPOP), focusing on the intersection of digital technologies, platforms, and democracy.

Antonia Flores, Universidad Diego Portales

Periodista, licenciada en comunicación social, minor en ciencias sociales y diploma de honor en género de la Universidad Diego Portales. Se ha desempeñado como verificadora de desinformación en múltiples iniciativas relacionadas con el proceso constituyente en Chile. También se ha desempeñado como ayudante de investigación en trabajos cuantitativos y cualitativos

Jorge Ortiz, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Licenciado en Letras Mención Lingüística y Literatura Hispánicas de la Universidad Católica de Chile. Sus temas de especialización abarcan la ciencia de datos, el procesamiento de lenguaje natural y el machine learning. Se desempeña como machine learning engineer y consultor en data science en la industria.

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