It Looks Like Univision. It Sounds Like the News. It’s a Lie. 🤥
Disinformation in Spanish is going viral, and it’s not an accident
Let me tell you something that makes my blood boil.
I spend hours researching, scripting, and editing videos that are factual, educational, and helpful. And the platform barely shows them to anyone. I’m lucky if they get 100 views on TikTok.
Meanwhile, a network of nearly 40 fake accounts pretending to be trusted news outlets like Telemundo and Univision spread blatant disinformation about immigration… and they got over 21 million views. Yes, million. That’s not a typo.
This isn’t just an algorithm problem. This is a systemic failure. And it’s been happening for years.
Disinformation targeting Latinos isn’t new. But it’s getting worse.
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, researchers at NYU and Global Witness tested TikTok’s response to fake political ads. TikTok approved 90% of them, including ads with the wrong election date, false voter requirements, and messages meant to stop people from voting altogether.
TikTok then announced they’d made updates. They said they created an Elections Center, hired more moderators, and partnered with fact-checkers. But here’s the thing most people don’t realize:
Even when these platforms invest in content moderation, Spanish-language content is still treated as an afterthought.
Why? Because moderation for Spanish content often happens in Spanish-speaking countries. And that creates a serious gap in cultural and civic context. A Spanish-speaking moderator in another country might not know the exact date of U.S. elections (early voting dates, absentee or mail-in voting laws, etc). So if someone posts a seemingly normal video in Spanish, with no red flags and no hate speech, but quietly slips in the wrong date to vote, that content could get approved and promoted.
That is exactly how disinformation spreads. Not always loud. Not always obvious. But just believable enough to confuse or mislead people who are looking for real answers.
What happens when trusted voices accidentally amplify the lie?
Here’s another layer that doesn’t get talked about enough: how we respond to misinformation.
Take the case of former Telemundo anchor María Celeste Arrarás. One of the fake TikTok accounts used her voice to make it sound like she was reporting on immigration policy. When she saw it, she shared the video on her Instagram story and wrote in the caption that it was fake.
But by doing that, she amplified the lie. Most people just watch the video. They don’t read the caption. So, even though her intention was to set the record straight, the actual result was that more people saw the disinformation.
If you follow people like Anat Shenker-Osorio or
, you know this is a huge mistake. They’ve both said it over and over: don’t repeat the lie to debunk it.What María Celeste should have done, and what we should all do, is prebunk it. That means:
Start by warning your audience that there are bad actors trying to trick them.
Give a small, controlled example of the kind of disinformation going around, without repeating the false claim in full.
Then, clearly explain the truth and give people something actionable. A way to spot the trick or a reminder to pause and fact-check before sharing.
This is the same methodology I’ve used in partnership with the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA). They’re working to protect our communities from misinformation, especially in Spanish. Together, we’ve worked on videos that prebunk false narratives before they go viral. One of the most dangerous examples? The myth that non-citizens are voting in federal elections.
This matters because it’s not just about politics. It’s about trust, safety, and our ability to make decisions based on truth. Whether it’s voter suppression, immigration panic, or medical misinformation, bad actors know how to target our communities with content that looks familiar. They use our language, our media brands, even our accents.
And they’re winning. Not because their content is better. But because the system is built to reward outrage and ignore context.
So… What can we do?
We can keep raising awareness. We can share trustworthy content, even when it doesn’t go viral. We can talk to our loved ones about what they’re seeing online and help them fact-check before they panic or pass it on.
And we can be smarter about how we respond. Prebunk instead of debunk. Frame the truth on our terms. Never give oxygen to the lie.
This is a must-read:
Because this isn’t just a Latino problem. This is a democracy problem. And it’s time we treated it like one.
Want to help combat disinformation? Share this post. Talk about it at home. And let your people know: if something sounds sketchy, it probably is.
Horrible. I’m going to share with some journalism profs — hopefully that will prompt some good class conversations!