Latino voters are coveted by both major parties. They are also a target for election misinformation

PHOENIX — As ranchera music filled Radio Campesina’s recording studio in Phoenix, a station personality spoke Spanish into the microphone.

“Friends of Campesina, in these elections, truth and unity are more important than ever,” said host Tony Arias. “Don’t be fooled by misinformation.”

The audio was recorded as a promo for Radio Campesina’s new campaign, which aims to empower Latino voters ahead of the 2024 elections. That effort includes discussing election-related disinformation stories and checking conspiracy theories on the air.

“We are on the front lines of the fight against disinformation in our communities,” said María Barquín, program director of Chavez Radio Group, the nonprofit that operates Radio Campesina, a network of Spanish-language stations in Arizona, California and Nevada. “There is a lot at stake for our communities in 2024. And so now more than ever we need to step up these efforts.”

According to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, Latinos, after Asian Americans, have grown the fastest of all major racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. since the last presidential election and are expected to account for 14.7%, or 36.2 million people, of their take into account. , of all eligible voters in November, a new high. They make up a growing share of the electorate in several presidential and congressional states, including Arizona, California and Nevada, and are heavily courted by Republicans and Democrats.

Democratic President Joe Biden has cited Latino voters as a key reason why he defeated Republican Donald Trump in 2020 and is urging them to help him do it again in November. Given the high stakes of a presidential election year, experts expect a wave of disinformation, especially through audio and video, aimed at Hispanic voters.

“Latinos have enormous voting power and can make a decisive difference in elections, yet they are an audience with too little message and too little priority,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of the NAEO Educational Fund, a national nonprofit that serves Latino encourages citizen participation. “Our voice has an impact. These bad actors know this, and one way to influence the Latino vote is to provide misinformation.

In addition to radio, much of the news and information Latinos consume is audio-based through podcasts or on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube. Content moderation efforts in Spanish are limited on these platforms, where a growing number of right-wing influencers are pushing election lies and QAnon conspiracy theories.

The types of disinformation overlap with falsehoods easily found in other conservative media and in many corners of the Internet: conspiracy theories about mail-in voting, dead people casting ballots, rigged voting machines, and threats at polling stations.

Other stories are more closely tailored to Latino communities, including false information about immigration, inflation and abortion rights, often tapping into the traumas and fears of specific communities. For example, Spanish speakers who have immigrated from countries with a recent history of authoritarianism, socialism, high inflation, and election fraud may be more vulnerable to misinformation on these topics.

Over-the-air disinformation is also particularly difficult to detect and combat compared to more traditional text-based disinformation, said Daiquiri Ryan Mercado, strategic legal and policy advisor for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which leads the Spanish-language Disinformation Coalition . While disinformation researchers can more easily code programs to categorize and track text-based disinformation, audio often requires manual listening. Radio stations that only broadcast in certain areas at certain times can also be difficult to follow.

“When we have such limited representation, Spanish speakers feel like they can connect with these people, and they become trusted messengers,” Mercado said. “But some people can abuse that trust.”

Mercado and others said that’s why trusted messengers like Radio Campesina are so important. The station was founded by Mexican-American labor and civil rights leader César Chavez and has built a loyal listening base over the decades. At any given time, as many as 750,000 people listen to the Chavez Radio Network on the air and online, Barquín said.

“They will come to hear us for the music, but our main focus is to empower and educate through information,” she said. “The music is just a tactic to draw them in.”

Radio Campesina’s on-air talent and musical guests often discuss disinformation on air, answer listeners’ questions about voting, teach them about detecting disinformation, and provide tutorials on election processes, such as submitting mail-in ballots. The station has also hosted rodeos and music events to register new voters and talk about misinformation.

They offer listeners the option to call or text questions on WhatsApp, a social media platform that is especially popular among immigrant communities but where much of the misinformation they see continues to fester. In March, the channel partnered with Mi Familia Vota, a Latino advocacy group, for an on-air show and phone bank event for voters to answer voter questions.

“We know that there are many people who are unmotivated because sometimes we come from countries where, when it comes to elections, we don’t trust the vote,” said Carolina Rodriguez-Greer, director of Mi Familia Vota in Arizona, before sharing information about the show on how voters can track their ballots.

The organization began working with Spanish media to dispel disinformation after seeing candidates like former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake spreading election lies in 2022, Rodriguez-Greer said. Lake is now running for U.S. Senate, with Trump’s support.

“One way to combat this misinformation is to fill the airways with good information,” said Angelica Razo, national deputy director of campaigns and programs for Mi Familia Vota.

In Tempe, Brian Garcia listens to Radio Campesina while driving to work. Growing up, the station played while his father cooked dinner and his family gathered around the table. It was a staple for his family, he said, and he’s excited about their efforts to tackle election misinformation.

“There aren’t many organizations or people using Spanish-language media to combat misinformation and disinformation,” he said. “And I think serving as a resource and a trusted resource within the Latino community that has already built these relationships, that trust will go a long way.”

A number of other community and media groups are also prioritizing the seemingly endless battle against disinformation.

Maritza Félix often checked disinformation about her mother, whom she calls the “queen of WhatsApp.” This led to Félix doing the same for family and friends in a WhatsApp group that grew into the Spanish news nonprofit Conecta Arizona.

It now has a radio program and a newsletter that debunk false claims about electoral processes, health, immigration and border politics. Conecta Arizona is also combating disinformation about the upcoming Mexican presidential elections that Félix says is seeping across the border.

Jeronimo Cortina, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston, tracks broad disinformation stories targeting Spanish-speaking communities across the country, as well as local content aimed at the state’s fast-growing Latino electorate. That includes misinformation about the candidates’ clean energy policies, which are taking away jobs in Texas’ oil and gas industry, and about migrants flooding the border.

“You’re not going to see the same content targeted at Latinos in Texas as you do at Latinos in Iowa,” he said.

This has led to a broader universe of groups tackling disinformation targeting Latinos. NALEO Educational Fund’s Defiende La Verdad campaign monitors disinformation and trains community leaders to spot it. In Florida, the podcast We Are Más combats Spanish-language misinformation at the state and local level, says founder Evelyn Pérez-Verdía. Jolt Action, a Texas advocacy group, is registering new voters and helping them understand misinformation.

Spanish-language fact-checking group Factchequeado is building partnerships with dozens of media outlets across the country to offer training and free Spanish fact-checking content.

“Disinformation is simultaneously a global phenomenon and a hyperlocal phenomenon,” says Laura Zommer, co-founder of Factchequeado. “So we have to tackle it with local and national groups uniting.”

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