Speaking to Lusa on Friday, João Tiago Machado, a CNE spokesman, said the first meetings took place this week, and entities will be selected to work on these initiatives, which are expected to invoilve a drill in early 2019. The aim, he added, is to “take precautionary measures to avoid these issues,” in the election year, at a time when cases of ‘fake news’ are the focus of passionate political debate in the presidential elections in Brazil. The CNE currently has no record of any complaint filed by parties or candidates related to fake news, he added.
Fake news, or news created purely for political purposes, gained prominence in the US presidential election and is widely believed to have played a role in the election of Donald Trump, the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and, more recently, in presidential elections in Brazil, in which polls point to a win by right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro.
In Portugal there some cases of fake news have been registered, namely one involving the coordinator of the Left Block, Catarina Martins, which falsely reported she was wearing a watch valued at €20 million.
Full Article: Portugal: Election commission develops action plan against ‘fake news’ in 2019 | Macau Business.
