On January 7th, Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg announced the end of fact-checking by specialized agencies on the company's platforms, which include WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, replacing the policy with 'Community Notes' in the coming months.To understand the perception of Brazilians about the new guidelines, theSherlock Communicationsconducted a survey that recorded users' experiences with fake news and other abuses on social media platforms.
The vast majority of Brazilians interviewed (87%) say it should be a legal requirement for the Goalremove content, deactivate accounts, and work with law enforcement authorities when they believe there is a real risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.' *
Although fact-checking is still active in Latin America, the results highlight the impact of misinformation and its reflection on user behavior. In Brazil, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) closely monitors the changes and debates the platforms' responsibility for the content published.
The survey revealed that in Brazil, more than half of the participants (54%) stated they had seen fake news on Meta platforms, and about one-third (29%) believed the content before discovering it was disinformation. Furthermore, nearly half (46%) of Brazilian users say they avoid interacting, commenting, sharing, and liking posts containing false content; 35% report the post to the platform moderators, and 15% add public comments warning that the content is false.
For fact-checking, 57% turn to internet searches, while 53% consult reliable news outlets. However, 33% read the comments to assess the truthfulness of the post. The same percentage searches for information on other social networks, and 9% use artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for research.
Outside the Meta ecosystem, the most used apps by Brazilians are YouTube (91%), TikTok (60%), and Telegram (48%). Among Meta's platforms, WhatsApp is the most used app, with 80% of users accessing it at least once an hour, followed by Instagram (54%) and Facebook (27%) at the same frequency.
Despite Meta's strong presence, 38% of users consider migrating to another platform if the company actually suspends fact-checking in the country, while 43% say they would stay. The trend of migration to other platforms with the suspension of fact-checking also appears strong in other Latin American countries. Peru leads, with 53% of respondents considering the change, followed by Mexico (48%), Colombia (46%), Chile (45%), and Argentina (43%).
“According to this research, Meta’s decision to end fact-checking in the US would not be as popular with its users in Latin America. Big tech companies should be aware of how introducing changes like this affects their reputations in Latin America, influencing not only their credibility but also platform adoption and user engagement across the region.”, says Patrick O'Neill, managing partner at Sherlock Communications.
Other research data
- Brazil leads the daily use of Instagram (85%), WhatsApp (96%), and Threads (22%) compared to other countries in Latin America.
- More than 40% of Brazilians interviewed have already come across hate speech (offensive comments related to race, ethnicity, religion, gender and others) on Meta platforms.
- Regarding complaints, 22% of Brazilians interviewed said they had already reported and were satisfied with the response, 19% had already reported and did not receive a satisfactory response, and 12% said they were ignored by the platform.
Methodology
The research was conducted byBroadminded, the research unit of Sherlock Communications, and takes into account the anonymous response of 3222 people in Latin America, from Argentina (455), Brazil (635), Chile (411), Colombia (428), Peru (658) and Mexico (635), obtained in January 2025 through an online questionnaire.
- *The excerpt:remove content, deactivate accounts, and work with law enforcement authorities when they believe there is a real risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety., cited at the beginning of the content, was taken from the Meta website for the preparation of the research.
