THE BLACKOUT OF TRUTH: IDENTIFYING AUTOMATED FACEBOOK PROFILES OF TELESUR AND VTV MEDIA AFTER THE MARCH 9, 2019 BLACKOUT

Abstract

This article seeks to understand, in part, the modus operandi of the proliferation of fake news practices through Venezuelan media, in particular the use of automated profiles. In this paper, we use a set of techniques, known in the academy as "digital methods", in which we use big data extraction and visualization of large information networks. In this sense, the research focused on Facebook, with a large amount of data (big data) of profiles and comments present on the official pages of teleSUR and VTV after the "blackout" of March 8, 2019 that left part of the country. in the dark. The strength of this research was to relate the extracted content in large quantities and, through a pivot table, to identify the main automated profiles that influence the political debate of that country in the pages of the main media. In this sense, the use of new digital methods contributes to greater encouragement of these practices among researchers.