In April, Indiegraf Product Director Carol Cavaleiro spoke at Web Summit Rio 2025 on the panel, “Has misinformation won – and how can journalists fight back?” She joined Agence France-Presse’s Latin America news editor, Laura Bonilla, and moderator Anup Kaphle, the editor-in-chief for Rest of World, for a discussion on the current state of the information landscape.
At Indiegraf, Cavaleiro works to make tech tools available to independent journalists. Before, she spent over a decade at the biggest media outlets in Brazil. In 2015, she co-founded Aos Fatos, a fact-checking agency.
Here are the top five takeaways about misinformation that journalists and publishers need to know.
1. Local perspectives help fight misinformation
Although the industry has won some battles when it comes to misinformation, Cavaleiro believes that it’s a long-term issue. “We may not beat it in this generation, but we are setting the basis for the future to come,” she says, noting that local publishers are fighting to build trust among communities and empower people by localizing these issues.
2. Consider ways to form connections offline
At Indiegraf, our goal is to give local publishers the technology and support they need to succeed and thrive. Cavaleiro shared an example of working with publishers based in Canada, who were affected by Meta’s ban on news content.
When these publishers saw their website traffic drop, they changed to offline strategies. They started handing out flyers and putting up billboards. “They decided to build this network that doesn’t rely on a third-party platform or a private company to keep the community engaged,” she says.
3. Fact-checking has never been more essential
The cutting of resources to fact-checking agencies means that accurate information will reach fewer people. “This is damaging because it’s fundamental work, whether people trust it or not,” says Cavaleiro. “It’s important to have something to combat fake news.”
4. Misinformation is here to stay — it’s time to learn how to live with it
Although Cavaleiro believes misinformation can’t be completely eradicated, it’s possible to live with it. “We lived through COVID and so we all have been impacted by some sort of misinformation,” she says. “Now, everybody knows that fake news is a thing, and also that fake news is so dangerous that it can even impact the way that a government handles a health crisis, for instance.”
So, how do we fight this? She points to the approach of local news, which can contextualize national issues to a neighborhood or a city. “With this trust network, you can always bring national topics to your community and find a middle ground.”
5. To build trust, put people first
People don’t trust faceless big brands anymore or corporations, but they do trust authentic people. “We’re in the era of social networks and social connections, so you have to bring these big topics or these challenges to a social level as well,” says Cavaleiro. She believes that the path forward is building trust among people by creating face-to-face connections and bonds.
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