Scientific Disinformation and the Public Sphere in Brazil: How pseudo-science impairs democracy

Political figures use parallel "science" to discredit information systems in society, including universities, experts and the press, to establish an environment of radical relativism which favours extreme ideologies. Scientific disinformation theories include anti-vaccination, historical revisionism and climate change denial. Concerned with this political and scientific disinformation, this thesis builds upon the normative framework of Brazil's public sphere. Current regulation and law enforcement cannot prevent these assaults on the democratic system, so a theoretical model is needed that protects credible sources of information and knowledge production, while promoting segmented spaces of public debate.

The conceptual framework of online public sphere and theories of deliberative democracy will be used to produce a model that protects rights inherent to democratic debate, while ensuring, in relation to the online public sphere: (i) ample access for the general public, (ii) protection of public interests in mostly private environments, and (iii) protection of rights and freedoms intrinsic to deliberation (e.g. speech, information, assembly, privacy).

This analysis has implications for public and private institutional arrangements governing the online public sphere in Brazil and in other democracies. It will provide an empirical assessment of the impact scientific disinformation has on political opinion formation. This will inform other democratic models,
and formulate normative changes that enable democratic communicative processes to thrive. A further outcome will be understanding how private platform affordances and materiality play a second-order institutional role in governing online discussion mechanisms.

Over 70 countries were affected by disinformation campaigns between 2018 and 2019, and this number is increasing rapidly. Virtually all democratic countries share the challenges of protecting freedom of expression and public discussion online, whilst YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and others are weaponized to sabotage democratic deliberation and participation. This research will improve understanding of the legal and normative measures that can enable online public spheres in other democracies to flourish.