Teorias da conspiração, fake news e eleições contemporâneas: as relações entre instrumentos da pós-verdade, tecnologias da informação e política durante o processo eleitoral dos Estados Unidos da América em 2016

Abstract

The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America catalyzed discussions about the insertion of humankind into a “post-truth world” during the 21st century. This study aims to understand, based on bibliographic review and a case study, why and to what extent post-truth, and specifically, conspiracy theories and fake news influenced the decision-making of American voters in the presidential election of 2016. While the bibliographic review facilitate exploring the relationships between truth and democracy and explaining the motivations for the belief in conspiracy theories and fake news, the case study specifies the participation of data and information technologies in Trump’s electoral campaign, as well as the mechanisms and implications of the main conspiracy theories and fake news disseminated at the time. The investigations carried out allow a more detailed view of the phenomenon, as well as a better understanding of how the disruptions it caused allow post-truth to influence democratic processes and put democracy itself at stake in the United States and in other countries.