Politics, ideology, populism and disinformation. Fact-checking Spanish parties’ political communication

Abstract

In the field of political communication, parties try to appropriate in public discourse the issues with which they are positively associated, taking advantage of their supposed competence in the resolution of certain problems. The phenomenon of disinformation can erode the axes on which the solutions to these problems are based and negatively influence citizens’ political decision-making by distorting reality. The aim of this research is to analyze the disinformation coming from Spanish political actors, to check what issues of the political agenda they focus on and if there is an ideological bias in the dissemination of false information. From a quantitative perspective, all fact-checks performed by Newtral and Maldita on false or misleading statements by politicians from October 2018 to March 2023 (n = 1,415) are analyzed. The results reveal higher disinformation in major, opposition and right-wing parties. The highest peaks are observed during election periods, especially in General Elections. Political actors disinform negatively about their rivals when they are in opposition and positively about themselves when they are in government. Each ideological bloc focuses on shoring up the issues with which people identify them, spreading false information about their opponents’ handling of these issues. These findings point to a consolidation of the use of disinformation in the political communication strategy of all parties..