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The Somos 99% project

The Somos 99% is a volunteer project created by media professionals (journalists and digital media experts) and members of society who agree to fight misinformation in Latin America’s biggest country and largest economy.

In 2017, more than 10 million “fake news” items were shared in Brazil, with a capacity to reach its entire population. According to Mozilla Internet Health Report v0.1, more than 50% of internet users in Brazil believe that Facebook posts represent everything happening on the internet and take them seriously. With over half of Brazil’s internet users vulnerable to fake news, we can see, now more than ever, what an important role these tech giants play in Brazilian democracy.

Despite big social media players expressing their desire to fight misinformation and hate speech, we at Somos 99% believe that citizens need to act right now. During the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections, we saw major criminal groups highly organized in spreading their agendas through media outlets, targeting both right and left-wing audiences.

We created this project to fight back against the 1%, the political and criminal groups spreading hate speech and misinformation, in order to give journalists and citizens, a space to publish and promote their content on the web via crowdsourcing.

The Somos 99% project is a community that empowers citizens by teaching and showing them the reality of our society by exposing websites that spread hoaxes. Our democracy is heavily threatened by our reliance on social media, and our social, civil, and environmental rights are vulnerable too.

We also provide media literacy programs in a variety of formats (including articles, artwork, e-books, and live events) that educated the community on identifying misinformation and social leaders who prepare to run for office.

HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN IN THE PROCESS

  • We are a group of individuals who collaboratively work to fact-check internet content and correct misinformation using innovative mapping methods within our online communities.
  • We believe that everyone should have the right to free speech without fear of being censored.
  • We believe in respecting others’ rights without using hate speech, sensationalism, and anti-group tactics.

How we work:

  • Building a strong network of content creators who collaborate on methods for mapping fake information sources
  • Monitoring Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram) for dummy accounts that target audiences with false information
  • Strengthening search engine results by ensuring fact-approved agencies take the top spot in the most commonly searched subjects on the web using SEO/SEM
  • Educating audiences through the creation of e-books and live events, to inform internet users on how to spot misinformation and anti-group tactics

If you wish to know more about The Somos 99% Project and how to collaborate or donate, please contact us using the form below.