Veracity Pledge or Discreditation Strategy? Accusations of Legacy Disinformation in Presidential Campaigns in Cabo Verde

ABSTRACT

This study constitutes an original contribution to the understanding of how disinformation gains traction in election campaigning by dwelling on yet to be studied case of the 2016 presidential elections in Cabo Verde. Based upon the results of a qualitative analysis focused on the dynamics of legacy disinformation – that is, false or misleading information diffused by the candidates themselves – across platforms, it concludes that besides not being channel-specific, the incumbency and frontrunner status of one of the candidates can be seen as a specific driver of disinformation used to facilitate the election success.

KEYWORDS:

• Legacy disinformation
• presidential elections
• Cabo Verde
• political campaigning
• spin and lies

Disclosure statement

During the fieldwork, I was asked for informal consultancy/advice as an academic with expertise in political communication about one of the candidate’s pre-established campaign strategies but no financial interests or any benefits arising from the publication of this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [research project UIDB/00683/2020 – Centre for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies].