At Maldita.es we have identified that information in Spanish has no borders, and much of the disinformation circulating in Spain is beginning to reach Latin American countries and vice versa. That is why we believe this effort will allow us to stop lies more quickly and more effectively.
Creating a piece of disinformation takes five minutes; debunking it with serious and reliable information can take hours. At a time like this, when false rumors that can be very harmful are multiplying, we need more than ever to build on the work of others so we can react as quickly as possible and bring reliable information to our audiences,” said Olivia Sohr, coordinator of LatamChequea and special projects at Chequeado.
This joint effort, coordinated by Chequeado in Argentina, also includes a new website (www.chequeado.com/latamcoronavirus) with access to an updated consultation tool featuring fact-checks and explanations about the coronavirus published by the 22 organizations. It will also publish content that is circulating and shared across the 15 countries in the network, such as false cures or treatments and conspiracy theories about the origin of the disease, among many others.
The initiative, coordinated by Chequeado (Argentina), includes the participation of Salud con Lupa, Agencia Lupa and Estadao Verifica (Brazil); Bolivia Verifica (Bolivia); La Silla Vacía and ColombiaCheck (Colombia); La Nación and La Voz de Guanacaste (Costa Rica); Periodismo de Barrio and El Toque (Cuba); Ecuador Chequea and GK (Ecuador); Agencia Ocote (Guatemala); Animal Político and Verificado (Mexico); El Surtidor (Paraguay); Ojo Público and Convoca (Peru); Poletikard (Dominican Republic); UyCheck (Uruguay); and Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela). You can see all the information they publish in this Twitter list.