“Made in China”: disinformation and Sinophobia on Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil

In this study, we analyze Facebook posts to explore the role of disinformation and Sinophobia in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. Although Sinophobic discourse is not new, it has been frequently associated with disinformation about Covid-19 in the country (Recuero; Soares, 2022). After collecting posts related to China from public groups on Facebook, we used Social Network Analysis to explore the networks and further analyze the most posted links. Connected Concept Analysis (CCA – Lindgren, 2016) was employed to examine the Facebook posts containing links that were posted at least 10 times from each cluster (n= 2,302 posts) and a qualitative deep reading was performed in order to make sense of the connections identified in the CCA. We identified three trends in the pro-Bolsonaro cluster: (1) blaming China for the pandemic, (2) reproducing conspiracy theories about China intentionally creating the virus, and (3) reinforcing a political framing of the pandemic (created by Communists). Sinophobic discourse was used to reinforce these claims. In addition to posts with overt Sinophobic discourse, other posts contained covert Sinophobia when blaming China for the pandemic.