English speaking media are not the only news sources fighting the rising tide of misinformation and disinformation infiltrating American politics. Spanish language outlets have also been targets.

Journalist Martina Guzman has reported on news and events affecting Detroit’s Hispanic community for many years. She also directs the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative at the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. It’s part of Wayne State University’s Law School.

Guzman says a credible source gave her a tip that Russian agents were buying airtime on Spanish language radio stations across the U.S. before the 2024 election.

“I was alarmed that it was happening, and more alarmed at how pervasive it was,” she said.

So, she decided to investigate. She discovered that a small handful of people knew what was happening because they were listening. She was, too, and wanted to make other journalists aware of it.

“I was convinced there was a tool that would allow you to listen, and that would make it easy for journalists to find out what was happening,” Guzman said.

To her surprise, there wasn’t. So, she set out to create one. Working with Public Data Works, Guzman and design engineers built “VERDAD,” which means “truth” in Spanish.

VERDAD “listens” to Spanish language broadcasts and begins recording as soon as it “hears” certain words that Guzman and the designers entered into the system. Then it transcribes the broadcast and translates it into English.

“American journalists who don’t speak Spanish now have an entire way of monitoring disinformation so they can see it in English,” she said.

Guzman added that journalists are monitoring Arabic, French, Creole, and Vietnamese broadcasts for misinformation, as well as Russia’s Sputnik propaganda channel.

“Once the tool is built, it can be applied to multiple languages at the same time,” she said.

We are all very aware of how misleading and false information can spread by just one click of the share button, but this year in particular we are reentering an online world that leaves us all susceptible to being duped. And social media companies themselves aren’t going to save us. 

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which owns Facebook, Instagram and others, announced this month the company will no longer use a third party to fact-check posts online. It will switch to a community run system instead, following in the footsteps of X, formerly known as Twitter. That leaves it up to the user to decipher the veracity of the info they come across.

Professor Anjana Susarla specializes in information systems at Michigan State University. She joined The Metro, along with Western Michigan University communications professor and creator of “Wonder Media: Ask the Questions!”, Sue Ellen Christian, to talk about about media literacy in the digital age and ways to fight misinformation on social media.

“I wish I had [a] silver bullet. But I am extremely careful what I see on social media, what I engage with,” Susarla said. “And the reason is, I as a researcher who studies misinformation, I am very wary of what people post.”

Sue Ellen Christian is a professor of Communication at Western Michigan University. She created “Wonder Media: Ask the Questions!” interactive exhibition that was located at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. 

Christian said she tries hard not to click or share any posts on social media with very strong opinions.

“I’m trying to teach my algorithm that I like things that are informative or that are personal sharing, like the family pictures and things that I can’t get, frankly, from the news media. I can only get that from personal connection. And so it is very hard to rewire an algorithm,” Christian said.

We also asked our listeners:

“Have fake accounts or false information on your feed frustrated you?”

Ryan in Detroit said: “I just recently uninstalled Instagram and Facebook from my phone. And I did it for two reasons. One, because I was noticing my own time was spent, you know, was too much on social media. So I wanted to take a break for me. And two, like I’m sure a lot of people notice on things like Facebook, you’re starting to see so many things that aren’t those friends that you know are connected with in real life or connected with at sometime.”

Use the media player above to listen to the full conversation, plus other stories from “The Metro.”

More headlines from The Metro on Jan. 24, 2024: 

• Detroit native, author and historian Jack Dempsey joined the show to discuss his latest book, “Warriors for Liberty: William Dollarson & Michigan’s Civil War African Americans,” co-written by the Michigan Civil War Association. 
• Less than 20% of Detroit residents have a college degree. The nonprofit Bottom Line is hoping to change that. The organization launched a program to partner with several Detroit schools to help students get into college and succeed while they’re enrolled. Founding Executive Director of Bottom Line Detroit Danielle North joined the show to share more about what they do.
• The James Beard Awards recognize innovative chefs and restaurants, especially those who’ve shown a commitment to community, equity and sustainable practices. The foundation just announced semifinalists and multiple Michigan restaurants are on the list. Detroit News Dining and Entertainment Reporter Melody Baetens joined The Metro to discuss the restaurants that made the cut.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.