fight against human rights violations. This collective action must be taken not only by entities in the area but also by other organizations and professionals from different sectors, such as journalists and lawyers. According to Chorny, “collective work and coordination are indispensable. In other times and in certain contexts, organizations acted as protagonists and there was specialization, but this has become less and less desirable.” FUNDAR Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación (Center for Analysis and Research) works with several topics and has recently worked with other initiatives on disinformation, for example through verifying information; promoting events; sensitizing audiences to the issue of disinformation through seminars, debates, and other public campaigns; problematizing the phenomenon; and discussing ways to counter it. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has held events to discuss the infodemic and how to mitigate the circulation of fake news related to Covid-19. The center, together with other civil society organizations, has developed a campaign to monitor official spending on advertising. The campaign also contributes to monitoring whether resources are used by public authorities to enable the spread of false content. FACT CHECKING VERIFICADO Verificado55 is run by volunteers and checks statements and messages disseminated in the media and on social networks, with a focus on statements by public figures that have an impact and go viral in Mexican society. The team also produces journalistic investigations on topics of national interest. During the pandemic, one such investigation focused on the CanSino vaccine, including what was referred to as controversies in clinical trials and irregular vaccination. The organization has also investigated digital influencers who have spread disinformation about Covid-19 and Covid-19 denialist movements that disseminated misleading content about public health. Verificado offers courses and workshops to promote media education. These courses and workshops have covered basic fact-checking activities, guidelines on how to communicate without stigmatizing people and communities, and specific themes such as gender equality. The group offers a course on data journalism for journalists, with support from the Google News Initiative. I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH AFP FACTUAL Mexico also has its own branch of AFP Factual, which is present in many other Latin American nations. ESCENARIO TLAXCALA: FICCIONES INFORMATIVAS The website Escenario Tlaxcala runs a project called Ficciones Informativas56 (“Information fictions”) through which it carries out its data verification work, focused on the state of Tlaxcala. The portal is funded by the Google News Initiative. EL SABUESO El Sabueso57 (“The bloodhound”) is also a project associated with a website, Animal Político. In addition to data verification, the team produces articles and analyses in the “Te Explico” section. During the pandemic, a special website was created to monitor data about the coronavirus in Mexico, with fact checking of information related to Covid-19 and messages about the topic.58 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS The federal government has acted as a watchdog regarding cases of disinformation. In 2020, the Secretariat of the Government stated that it would open administrative proceedings against two print newspapers owned by the same company in the state of Chihuahua for spreading false information. The newspapers published photographs about alleged Covid-19 deaths that were not from Mexico but from Ecuador. The measure was withdrawn by the Mexican government in response to criticism from civil society. LEGAL INITIATIVES In 2020 a bill was presented in the Federal Senate by Senator Claudia Anaya Mota to address mechanisms of rights of reply to false information disseminated by the president of the republic, as a reaction to statements by President López Obrador, especially during the pandemic. The analysis of the right-of-reply requests would be carried out by the Institute of Transparency, Access to Public Information, and Accountability (INAI). The responses would be broadcast at a new executive branch conference and on the digital platforms where the speech or statement had been disseminated (Anaya Mota 2020). In 2021, a new project, by Senator Ricardo Ávila, proposed a set of rules for social networks, such as operational authorization and terms of service as set by the Federal Telecommunications Institute, requirements for suspension and exclusion of accounts and profiles, and a provision that the terms and conditions must provide measures to prevent the spread of false news (Ávila 2021). Latin America and the Caribbean – 1 0 9