Fetishism of misinformation on the web: an aggravated pandemic

Abstract

It discusses the concepts of disinformation and informational practices, bringing them closer to the notion of cultural semiformation (semiculture), having as reference the Critical Theory of Information and Communication. It argues that communication processes occur according to social practices of intentional production of disinformation, according to a productivity circuit that demands from the receiver / user, the responsibility for checking the information. Attentive to functions that multiply and can be identified in relation to different social actors, including the State. Methodologically, it is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach, through a methodological triangulation, which consisted of spontaneous observation, followed by content analysis and hermeneutical interpretation of a corpus of 86 fake news from the website of the Ministry of Health of Brazil. The results allowed the identification of six categories that emerged from the pre-analysis. In the subsequent phase, five news items were analyzed, considering the identification of operational and situational aspects of the government in relation to the availability of content on the website, related to ideological and religious perspectives that, supposedly, contradict the purpose of clarifying citizens. about the pandemic. Concerning the five fake news analyzed, it is prudent to state that the Brazilian government used the Ministry of Health website to misinform and violate the right to information.