Challenges for Subject Categorization of Fake News about COVID-19 in Brazil: Knowledge Organization against Disinformation

Abstract

Considering that the daily nature of fake news nowadays leads to devastating effects, the goal of this paper was to provide a thematic categorization of COVID-19 news regarding the Brazilian universe. For this, the fact checking tool Fato ou Fake was used in order to gather the corpus of 278 news (Messages, Videos, and Photos) categorized as #FAKE between Feb.2020 and Sep. 2021. The methodology of content analysis was applied to the research corpus and 4 main thematic categories were identified: General characterization, Diagnosis and Treatment; Preventive Measures, and Hospitalization and Deaths. The results show that fake news threaten the democratic state and the development of science as well, and deserves specific attention by information professionals whose deeds consist of checking the origin of the information, as well as teaching patrons on how to properly use fact checking tools. In this sense the thematic categorization of fact checking tools can contribute to guarantee agility and precision in information searches in such a way that the knowledge organization and representation can act as a driver for development and change.