Online Challenges For Misinforming Latin America

The report examines climate misinformation surrounding extreme weather in Latin America, focusing on case studies in Brazil, Chile, and Peru. It finds that highly visible, multi-causal, and emotional events are frequently weaponized by political figures to assign blame to scapegoats or promote conspiracy theories, thereby obscuring the scientific drivers of the climate crisis.

• Extreme weather events are particularly susceptible to misinformation because they are highly visible, multi-causal, and elicit strong emotional responses, which allows actors to advance specific agendas by scapegoating.
• In Brazil, a false narrative emerged claiming that September 2023 flooding in Rio Grande do Sul was caused by the opening of dam gates rather than a cyclone; this claim reached at least 5.2 million people and was amplified by right-wing figures to attack the Workers’ Party (PT) government.
• In Chile, the 2023 wildfires were framed by some political leadership as primarily the result of 'terrorist' arson, a narrative that distracted from the role of a 14-year mega-drought and climate change.
• In Peru, the arrival of Cyclone Yaku in March 2023 triggered conspiracy theories claiming the event was man-made, specifically attributing it to the HAARP project and the Jicamarca Observatory.
• Misinformation narratives around extreme weather typically do not create new tropes but instead amplify existing political tensions and established global climate denialist narratives, such as those involving HAARP or arson.
• A common tactic in climate misinformation is the deliberate misattribution of causes, shifting the focus from climatic factors to criminal or conspiratorial explanations to hinder the adoption of climate action.
• Some climate misinformation in Latin America is intentionally vague, cherry-picking various historical weather events to argue that such phenomena have always existed, which makes the claims harder to disprove than event-specific lies.

APA

Climate Action Against Disinformation (2023). Online Challenges For Misinforming Latin America. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report_Misinforming-Latin-America.pdf

Chicago

Climate Action Against Disinformation. Online Challenges For Misinforming Latin America. 2023. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report_Misinforming-Latin-America.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Action Against Disinformation |title=Online Challenges For Misinforming Latin America |date=2023 |url=https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report_Misinforming-Latin-America.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateactionagainstdisinformation2023online, author = {{Climate Action Against Disinformation}}, title = {{Online Challenges For Misinforming Latin America}}, institution = {Climate Action Against Disinformation}, year = {2023}, url = {https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report_Misinforming-Latin-America.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }