against disinformation could not be carried out only within national borders, because the production and dissemination of disinformation are international and involve the importation or exportation of disinformation from one nation to another: “We did a publication on how disinformation about Covid-19 crossed different borders. We looked at the phenomenon of vaccination hesitancy, with people looking at ineffective treatments without scientific proof and using disinformation content as a basis for that” (interview, Weyne, August 2021). 12.5 FRAGMENTED SOLUTIONS The challenges of understanding the phenomenon reveal the complexity of approaching a multifaceted phenomenon. Among the actors who participated in this study, the views on strategies and methods for combating disinformation reflect the focuses of the various organizations. Fact-checking initiatives favor verification, as they see it as fundamental, while other entities are This study has revealed dedicated to media education and the wide, diverse, and also emphasize the role of prevention fragmented character of the in combating disinformation. There are repertoire of methods and only a few initiatives with an integrated approach. tools being employed. This study has revealed the wide, diverse, and fragmented character of the repertoire of methods and tools being employed. This reflects the different concerns and emphases brought to bear when dealing with this problem and the factors that favor it, from knowledge production to regulation, fact checking, and various forms of education, to training and sensitization of both employees involved in the production of information and users in general. If fact checking and media education are well-recognized methods, there are divergent assessments of their effectiveness and the limits of their role in mitigating the problem. A less common and quite controversial intervention in combating the wave of disinformation in the region concerns regulatory initiatives, as discussed earlier. 12.6 POLITICAL POLARIZATION Several actors who participated in this study have called attention to the difficulty of responding to disinformation in a situation of political polarization. These responses, strategies, and tools are sometimes associated with a particular political I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH group, which creates obstacles to the analysis of the content and its implications, whether positive or negative. Patrícia Blanco (interview, August 2021), from the Brazilian project EducaMídia of the Instituto Palavra Aberta, described the issue as follows: We see as a challenge this environment, this diverse and polarized climate that does not allow dispassionate debate on these issues. All the debates about fighting disinformation end up gaining political bias, with relativization of the right to freedom of expression. This disrupts the environment needed to build regulatory solutions. Renata Mielli (interview, August 2021), from Centro Barão de Itararé, pointed out that there is also a great deal of confusion and a lack of knowledge among the diverse political currents found in the countries of the region. These groupings often end up defending solutions that reinforce the power of digital platforms by imagining an easy way out through expanding the platforms’ responsibility for oversight and content moderation. This was done by the NetzDG in Germany. Mielli (interview, August 2021) explained: What we have identified is that there is a very dangerous common sense regarding how to confront the phenomenon of misinformation. And this is in all camps, from left to right. What is the common sense prevailing among people who don’t understand the business model of the platforms, who don’t understand the architecture of how they work? It is this: If disinformation is circulating on the platforms, they should remove the content. We have tried to have this discussion. 12.7 CHALLENGES RELATED TO FACT CHECKING In the context of fact checking, various concerns were raised. One is the strong presence of traditional media among data verification projects. This reflection was made by Juan Carlos Lara (interview, August 2021) from Derechos Digitales: In Chile, there has been fact checking not only by agencies but also by the media. There are two journalistic consortiums that tend to be influential. In one of them, they spread a lie about one of the proposals within the regulation committee of the constitutional convention. But nobody controls the fact checkers of that duopoly, of right-wing or center-right tendencies. Latin America and the Caribbean – 1 1 8