On January 1st, 2019, Jair Bolsonaro became the president of Brazil. He is a right-wing politician who is in favour of torture"Bolsonaro's pledge to return Brazil to past alarms survivors of dictatorship", of the destruction of the Amazon" This article is more than 3 months old Jair Bolsonaro launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections" and of the criminalization of homosexuality"Brazil’s fearful LGBT community prepares for a ‘proud homophobe’". The Guardian prepared a piece on how Whatsapp, a service used by 120 million Brazilians, proved to be a very effective tool"The three types of WhatsApp users getting Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro elected" to mobilize support for Bolsonaro. Whatsapp was used to promote his fascist promises, harass users who questioned these proposals and, of course, to send out big shipments of fake news.
According to the information that circulated in these Whatsapp groups, Bolsonaro’s opponent wanted to legalize pedophilia and incest, and his rival party was preparing a mandatory “gay kit” for 6-year-olds in Brazil’s public schools. For sure it is very easy to discard this as fake news if you have unlimited internet access to fact-check, or if you have a support system of informed people who will tell you the truth. But what happens when you’re restricted to a single-platform ecosystem where those calling out fake news are harassed, and where support for it is amplified by likes and social acceptance?
The relation between zero rating and the spreading of fascism might at first sight seem very distant. However, a closer look at the human motivations and interactions that take place in the virtual “free” spaces, and the economic interests of tech business, reveals a systematic information attack on the most vulnerable users of mobile internet who are forced to inhabit these environments of digital garbage.
Advocates and policymakers, who are well-versed in internet topics and hold the privilege of accessing secure and legitimate communications and information channels, can choose to blame the users of these services. They can choose to expect people to ignore fake news and spend their limited megabytes on the interactive visualisations of the New York Times instead of on Facebook with the people they know. However, it will be much more fruitful to work on strategies that guarantee a strict enforcement of net neutrality - including a ban on zero rating - through an interdisciplinary approach that includes community, tech and regulatory work.
Is is important to fight for a vision where, at least in theory, all of us, regardless of our economic situation, are able to access and participate in an ecosystem of truthful information and open collaboration. We cannot abandon those with fewer means to the digital junk content that promotes fascism and generates toxic revenue for the big internet platforms.