Some time ago, the platforms didn’t want to do anything like moderate disinformation content, and today there are distinct discussions on a global level. With the pandemic, they are more comfortable in moderating messages about health. There are actors who believe that the responsibility and power to remove content should rest with platforms, as in the case of content that causes harm. This brings up debates about whether to go for regulation or not. We would be creating a problem; I don’t think this is the way to look at this issue. (interview, Schatzky, August 2021) Laura Moraes (interview, August 2021) from Avaaz highlighted the lack of transparency of these agents and the way informational flows work: “More and more, transparency for researchers and for civil society has decreased. We need to advance in the debate on transparency and the regulation of algorithms and AI.” The concentrated ownership of digital platforms was also raised as a concern. There are conglomerates that dominate several market segments on the internet, and even in offline media. In Latin America and the Caribbean, large groups such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple have significant market shares. Stakeholders are concerned about how this competitive landscape impacts on disinformation. Juan Carlos Lara (interview, August 2021) noted: “There is the challenge of media ownership and concentration, including the issue of platforms—the economic issue. The media industries, which are very much funded by advertising, lose funding that goes to internet platforms.” And in the opinion of Paulo José Lara (interview, August 2021): “It’s an economic phenomenon. It’s critical to look at resources to understand the phenomenon and the campaigns. That is one of the most important investigations to carry out: who finances the digital platforms; what the economic powers are.” Another aspect of concern is transparency about the operations of the platforms and the measures adopted by them. Ramênia Vieira (interview, August 2021), from Coletivo Intervozes, highlighted this concern based on research done by Intervozes about the responses of the main platforms to disinformation. Veridiana Alimonti from the EFF (interview, August 2021) noted initiatives that entail cooperation with public entities: “In some countries, such as Brazil and Mexico, we see greater cooperation between electoral authorities and platforms. It is important to know how these agreements are made and how they develop. Because many times they only take place with the authorities and platforms, and it is important to have transparency.” 12.12 USING TECHNOLOGY TO COMBAT DISINFORMATION Adrián Pino (interview, August 2021) from Desconfio pointed out the significant challenge of using technology such as AI in the fight against misinformation: One thing that seems little explored is AI and machine learning. We have some experience with automated news analysis. Not many data science or engineering experts are working on projects about the news. It seems like an important topic to delve into. It is [one] of our intentions as a project, but we are going slowly because we are a small team, and we don’t have funding. I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH Latin America and the Caribbean – 1 2 1