A video from Syria with a statue of the Virgin Mary, dated 2013 and published during the European election campaign on social networks Chegi, was considered by experts to be disinformation.
The video was transmitted to the National Electoral Commission (CNE) through a WhatsApp number created for this purpose by the commission, which has a fake news detection partnership with MediaLab, a research center for communication sciences integrated into (ISCTE-IUL).
Experts consider the video to be disinformation because it is used in a decontextualized manner, which places it in this category according to MediaLab’s classification of different types of disinformation.
The AFP fact-checking department has already ruled this to be false due to recent publications in several countries regarding Israel’s war against Hamas.
The video, which appears to be real and shows two men smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary, has already circulated around the world and was originally published on October 23, 2013 on the North American website of The Middle East Media Research Institute.
It reportedly depicts an Islamic cleric (Omar Raghba) proclaiming an end to the idolatry of symbols following the Islamic conquest of Christian territories in Syria in 2013.
The MediaLab report, which Lusa had access to, said that after this date the video had already been used in various contexts, “always by political agents or parties associated with the far right and anti-Muslim movements.”
Its most famous and far-reaching dissemination was by then US President Donald Trump in November 2017, after which it “entered the social circle of far-right anti-immigration movements and can be found in dozens of social media posts, most of them taken out of context.” — say the authors of the report, Gustavo Cardoso and Jose Moreno.
In Portugal, the video was posted on Chegi and Andre Ventura’s social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Youtube, X) on May 20, with a total of 40,912 interactions (likes, shares and comments) recorded between that date and May 26. and 52,535 views, not including Instagram.
A message accompanying the video reads: “They [os muçulmanos] they do not respect the religion of others,” warning of the perceived threat of Islamization associated with the immigration issue that, according to researchers, continues to characterize the election campaign.
In connection with this topic, Chega also published another campaign message on his social networks: an image comparing a woman in a burqa and an image without a burqa, with the question: “What kind of Europe do you want?”
These posts, which were also reported to CNE by a user, generated a total of 25,120 interactions on Instagram and Facebook X. On X alone, the two posts generated 141,632 views, the report said.
Experts note that this message is similar to the message of the Vox party (Spain) on its networks, published on the same day, June 3.
Thus, say Gustavo Cardoso and José Moreno, “we have publications almost simultaneously in both countries of the Iberian Peninsula, coming from parties of the same political family, with the same message and a very similar image.”
By referring to “the rising tide of Islamization that threatens Europe” and extending this threat to Portugal, “Chegi’s publication ignores the fact that the Muslim religion is clearly a minority in both Europe and Portugal,” the report warns.
In a country, the text says, “the Muslim religion does not represent more than 0.4% of the population, and in Europe it does not exceed two percent,” this “context is ignored by the publication, which makes it ‘decontextualized’ content.”
In short, the researchers warn, although the message conveyed is political, neither the text nor the image contains a message of hatred or calls for violence, consistent with “legitimate political speech,” albeit “within a narrative gray area.” , allowing for different personal interpretations.
Thus, “from the point of view of political communication, text and image strive precisely for this ambiguity as a party’s communication strategy,” they conclude.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.