Misinformation buffets Portugal ahead of snap elections
The country has set up a rapid response system to help monitor and report dubious claims and trends linked to the elections.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/30/misinformation-buffets-portugal-ahead-of-snap-elections
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The country has set up a rapid response system to help monitor and report dubious claims and trends linked to the elections.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/30/misinformation-buffets-portugal-ahead-of-snap-elections
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00Misinformation buffets Portugal ahead of snap elections.
00:09As Portugal gears up for its snap legislative elections scheduled for the 18th of May, misleading
00:14claims by politicians and social media users alike have seen an uptick.
00:19Some relate to the amount of support each political party is getting, such as this post
00:23on expat Andre Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party.
00:27He says that social media polls put his party as most likely to come out on top in May,
00:32with a roughly 5% lead on the centre-right AD alliance led by the Social Democratic Party
00:37and about 9% ahead of the Socialist Party.
00:40Social media doesn't lie, Ventura says in the post.
00:43It's unclear exactly what the source for the poll is, but regardless, social media surveys
00:48are notoriously unreliable.
00:50More reliable polling from various credible companies puts AD at about 30%, the Socialist
00:56Party in the high 20s, and then Chega in third place with around 15%.
01:01Nevertheless, it is true that Chega has ramped up support to become a solid political force
01:06in Portugal in recent years.
01:08Ventura claimed in a recent televised debate that the Social Democratic Party, the Socialist
01:12Party and Chega came historically close to each other in the 2024 elections.
01:17The polls show that Chega has consistently risen since the turn of the decade, and last year's
01:22votes saw the party come in as the best performing third place party in recent years.
01:27With the 2025 elections on the horizon, Portugal is preparing for a deluge of misinformation
01:32linked to the vote by setting up a rapid response system to report dubious claims.
01:37According to local reports, a similar system has already been used in countries across Europe,
01:42allowing organisations to quickly flag urgent content or trends that could threaten election
01:47integrity and discuss them with platforms based on their policies.