are, they play an important role in pushing the officials forward. Mapping these officials and their funding and how the money gets distributed by them to other parties is an easier path in this decentralization scenario than trying to map every message. (interview, Alimonti, August 2021) 12.10 CHALLENGES RELATED TO REGULATORY SOLUTIONS As pointed out above, regulatory responses have pushed actors to react, for example to various proposals and distinct positions taken regarding these proposals. These debates involve the complex task of balancing access to information and freedom of expression, and preventing bills, regulations, and the provisions contained in them from generating new problems. Paulo José Lara (interview, August 2021) from Article 19 highlighted this challenge: On the subject of legislation and laws, it is a matter of doing the best we can without putting freedom of expression and individual or collective expressions at risk. That in itself is very difficult and we will have to take into account the need to legislate in a democratic way. Important questions must be posed regarding the dissemination of harmful content. Juan Carlos Lara (interview, August 2021), from Derechos Digitales, also commented on the issue: “It is extraordinarily complex to regulate without it being restrictive in terms of expression. We know there are other measures. We are not sure, and we have divergent views. We tend to think that the decisions about content moderation made by the platforms are transparent and fair.” Thinking about regulation of disinformation poses the problem of who defines what is or is not disinformation and who defines the measures to apply to content that has been found to be false. While Juan Carlos Lara (interview, August 2021) pointed out that it might be better to reserve this prerogative for the platforms, other actors questioned who would have the prerogative to inspect or supervise these decisions when abuse or mistakes occur. Soledad Arréguez (interview, August 2021) of Argentina’s Deconfio noted: Every time one thinks about regulations, whether it’s the observatory or the committee that Facebook has formed, and which news I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH items are fake or not, I think the question is who is going to watch over this committee or body that is going to define the truth. That leads to a philosophical issue of what truth is—what can one regulate? What happened during the last months of Trump’s presidency was a lesson in what we can delimit and work on. Veridiana Alimonti (interview, August 2021) from the EFF pointed out that data protection should also be considered in order to achieve the necessary balance. Thus, regulatory proposals should avoid mechanisms that extend surveillance. She also discussed the way that responses to fight misinformation can affect data protection rules. She noted that the fight against disinformation is not carried out only through legislation targeting the issue; data protection legislation is key in preventing the abusive collection and processing of data that are then used in order to target audiences with false messages: “We need to make better use of data legislation. We can explore further how to use the guarantees offered by data protection laws as something we already have and that works well in electoral and non-electoral moments” (interview, Alimonti, August 2021). 12.11 THE ROLE OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS In the participants’ reflections on how to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of disinformation, the role of digital platforms was mentioned. However, problems related to these platforms were also highlighted as challenges. These environments favor the circulation of fake content; consequently, one obstacle is how to deal with them so that they fulfill the role of opening space for these practices: Digital platforms are largely part of the problem, not the solution. They profit from anti-vaccine groups who put out content, who pay for Facebook advertising. In Latin America, ethically, it is quite complicated, because many do research with the support of Facebook resources. It would also be interesting to start joining forces on a regional level in terms of this issue. Do we accept resources or not? If not, who funds our work? (interview, Pino, August 2021) The business models of the digital platforms and the way they structure information flows are seen by several experts and researchers as amplifying factors in the spread of false content: Latin America and the Caribbean – 1 2 0