Donald Trump will return to the White House after his victory in the American presidential election. The candidate multiplied false information during his campaign, raising fears of the worst for his new mandate.
The victory of Donald Trump, elected for the second once president of the United States, is paving the way for a new wave of disinformation, both political and climate, with an administration ready to challenge the scientific community. In the home stretch of his campaign, the Republican shared false claims about government aid after Hurricane Helen hit North Carolina, a key state that he won against Kamala Harris.
He also called into question for the umpteenth time, without evidence, the result of the 2020 presidential election, lost to Joe Biden, raising the specter of electoral fraud. These false statements were massively disseminated on social networks, which have become the main source of information for many people to the detriment of traditional media, permanently discredited by the billionaire. “The problem of misinformation has never been so serious”underlines Bill Adair, founder of the verification site PolitiFact. And, to stem the flow of lies, moderation of social networks and verification of allegations “obviously don't work“, estimates the specialist.
Musk in support
Even as the campaign trail was underway, various polls found that about a third of Americans thought the 2020 election had been “vole” by Joe Biden. Researchers from the specialized site NewsGuard have identified 963 sites and 793 influential accounts on social networks having published false electoral information during the campaign. Blame on the right, which since 2016 uses in addition to its traditional communication channels social networks to convey “propaganda”according to disinformation researcher Renee DiResta. A machine fueled by the creation of memes, these photo montages very present on social networks. “Influencers stimulate each other”details Renee DiResta.
If disinformation was not necessarily decisive in the Republican's victory, “Trump was almost certainly helped by Twitter/X's apparent refusal to contain or mitigate pro-Trump misinformation“, estimates Ethan Porter, professor at George Washington University. The owner of The billionaire, boss of SpaceX and Tesla, supported the Republican's campaign with millions of dollars and could play a central role in his new administration.
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An Antixav to Health
Trump won over voters thanks to “a right-wing media structure that bombards them with lies and disapproval while dissuading them from consulting other sources of information, whether traditional news outlets, government officials or experts from the medical field“, underlines Matt Gertz, who works on the links between right-wing media and the Republican Party for the organization Media Matters. Scientific topics like climate, vaccines and other health issues are at the forefront of this misinformation.
Especially since vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theory follower Robert Kennedy Jr., once an independent candidate before joining Trump, is expected to occupy a key position in health within the new government. “How are people not alarmed that Trump wants to entrust health care to RFK Jr. (…) This man has promoted anti-vaccine misinformation and public health conspiracy theories for years,” criticized Alma Hernandez, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, in a publication on X.
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During Trump's first term, about 1,400 edits were made by the administration to agency sites dealing with scientific topics, removing information on environmental issues, such as water pollution, climate change or species. endangered, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an independent group of scientists. “President-elect Trump's path to the White House has been an unprecedented campaign of disinformation, threats, divisive rhetoric, and dangerous policy promises. It is understandable to view the next four years with serious concerns “said Kim Waddell, interim president of UCS.
(upday with AFP)
