Factchequeado: Fake News in Spanish Knows No Borders

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic there was another type of pandemic surging, an infodemic, according to the World Health Organization. The impact of disinformation, sometimes called fake news, has been significantly researched. But there has been little research on disinformation in Spanish and how it spreads within Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. who are especially vulnerable to disinformation as there are few fact checking sources in Spanish in the U.S. Latinos also experienced higher rates of Covid infections and deaths in the pandemic and informing this community of fake news around the vaccine and health was essential. This case study examines the efforts of a fact checking initiative called "Factchequeado," which aims to stop the spread of disinformation in Spanish in the U.S.