Latinos Navigate a Sea of Misinformation in the Digital World
The rise of artificial intelligence and the lack of content moderation on digital platforms makes our community more vulnerable to the threat of misinformation.Latinos in the United States are increasingly turning to digital devices for their news consumption, with nearly 9 in 10 reporting that they use digital platforms at least sometimes, according to a recent survey reported by Russell Contreras in Axios Latino. This trend is further underscored by the Pew Research Center’s 2023 National Survey of Latinos on media, revealing that 65% of Latinos prefer digital news over traditional mediums like TV, radio, or print. While this shift to digital news consumption allows for wider access to specialized media outlets or news pertaining to specific communities, it also comes with its own set of challenges, particularly concerning the spread of misinformation and the rise of generative AI and deepfakes, especially during critical moments such as the upcoming presidential elections.
Pew’s survey found that Latinos are more likely than white and Black Americans to prefer digital news sources, particularly among young adults who prefer to access news on WhatsApp or YouTube. Nevertheless, the transition to digital news consumption is coinciding with an alarming trend regarding civic engagement: there has been a decline in Latinos who follow the news all or most of the time, dropping by nine percentage points between 2020 and 2023, which matches similar trends in the rest of the U.S. population, which is gravitating toward topics related to entertainment and sports. The most striking consequence of this transition is that it makes the Latino population, which has already been disproportionately affected by misinformation campaigns, more vulnerable. Social media and the digital platforms Latinos are increasingly relying on are much harder to moderate, especially given the fact that Spanish is less likely to be intercepted by content moderators. However, to mitigate this, organizations like the nonpartisan News Literacy Project and PolitiFact en Español have stepped in to address this issue, offering fact-checking resources and hosting bilingual panels aimed at helping Latino voters discern credible news sources. This is especially important in election season, as political campaigns have been identified as key drivers of misinformation, often with messages that target the fears of authoritarianism and traumatic experiences that Latinos may have experienced in their home countries, as well as broader concerns about immigration and the economy. For instance, the already-debunked claim that immigration causes an increase in criminality. However, the lack of moderation in the spread of false information on digital platforms is not the only challenge affecting our community. The arrival of generative AI technology has brought a new emerging frontier in the fight against misinformation, and what makes it uniquely challenging is that these technologies are rapidly evolving. Recently, for instance, OpenAI unveiled a new model to create videos from text called Sora, and if employed with ill intent, it can be used to further create misleading videos. It is already happening with audio. Earlier this year, a robocall with deepfaked audio of President Biden targeted voters in New Hampshire, inviting them not to vote in the Democratic primary. Concerns have been raised about the spread of false narratives targeting Latino communities, ranging from claims of electoral fraud to misinformation about reproductive rights. Therefore, while efforts are underway to combat misinformation, it is more important than ever to be skeptical, evaluate sources, and corroborate the information you are seeing with multiple media outlets. That way, we are all part of the solution to mitigate misinformation. |
