The ranking doesn't give us reason to be proud because Portugal contributed to the rise in disinformation about immigration in Europe during July. This conclusion is found in a report by the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) for the month of July.
The Observatory shows that Portugal contributed to the rise in misinformation about immigration in July , highlighting the false narrative that immigrants have priority in school enrollment over the Portuguese.
"However, anti-immigrant narratives have also contributed to this wave of disinformation . (...) several fake news stories have contributed to the unfounded narrative that the state cares more for immigrants than for its own citizens. In Portugal , a false story claims that immigrants have priority in school enrollment over Portuguese citizens," the document reads .
The report thus refers to the statements made by the Chega leader , who affirmed and reaffirmed the false narrative: that children of immigrants have priority for places in Portuguese schools.
First, André Ventura wrote on Instagram: "The children of foreigners and the unemployed are being given priority in placing their children in daycare centers and schools in Portugal."
On the same day, July 9, he reiterated the disinformation narrative in an interview with CNN Portugal. A review of the rules outlined in Normative Order No. 10-B/2021 reveals that the Chega leader's claims are false .
Given this and other situations in several European countries, the Observatory warns that the topic of "immigration" has broken a record since it began monitoring (in October 2023), reaching 11 percent.
During the month of July , 1,433 articles were analyzed by the 33 organizations that make up the fact-checking network.
"The most targeted topic by disinformation in July was immigration, which increased 5% compared to June," reads the report released this Friday.
This analysis revealed that " 164 (11%) articles focused on disinformation related to immigration and 119 (8%) on disinformation related to climate change."
Disinformation about the war in Ukraine also appeared in six percent of articles (specifically, 84 articles). 69 (5%) articles related to the European Union , 59 articles (4%) contained disinformation related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas , 50 (3%) addressed LGBT+ and gender issues , and 41 (3%) contained disinformation about COVID-19 . In July, the percentage of fake news stories using content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) remained stable , corresponding to 10% (152) of the total.