How much did falsehoods influence the outcomes of elections in 2022?
2022 saw a number of key elections take place around the world, and disinformation featured prominently in a number of these. The US elections held in November 2022 saw the alarming trend of a number of candidates standing for office openly espousing falsehoods primarily regarding election.
To find out if election denial and other falsehoods had influenced the outcome of the midterms, we investigated the success of these candidates and assessed the likely impact that this would have on American democratic processes moving forward.
We also measured disinformation during the midterm elections against that in the Brazilian presidential elections and the Malaysian general elections of 2022. In doing so, we uncovered some broader emerging trends shared across the information environments in countries undergoing elections, and we also noted how disinformation could be shaped by both transnational and local historical factors.
These findings are contained within the following report, along with our assessments on the consequences for democracies and the steps required to safeguard trust and engagement in the democratic process.
