Brazilian voters attacked by misinformation days before vote

By DIANE JEANTET
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian voters are being bombarded by online misinformation, less than a week before they pick their next leader. Baseless rumors are whipping through social media in Latin America’s largest democracy, roiling Brazilian politics much as U.S. politics has been roiled. The rumors helped prompt Brazil last week to enact the strictest limits in years on the country’s otherwise free-flowing democracy. It’s a conundrum posed by social media across the world, especially in countries wrangling with the intersection between modern technology and centuries-old liberties like free speech. The Superior Electoral Court, the country’s top electoral authority, announced Thursday that it would be banning “false or seriously decontextualized” content that “affects the integrity of the process.”