Public communication and disinformation: mitigating damage to democracy in the face of extreme climate events

This article analyzes the disinformation crisis during extreme weather events in Brazil, with a focus on the floods in Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024. The socio-environmental crisis is accompanied by a disinformation crisis, exacerbated by the circulation of false content during emergencies, as happened during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The text argues that disinformation is part of the contemporary political confrontation and proposes Public Communication actions to mitigate its effects during and after climate crises. Based on primary data (observation on the profiles of news agencies) and secondary data collected by NetLab/UFRJ and the Instituto Democracia em Xeque, the article contextualizes the public calamity of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, presents data and narratives of disinformation during the flood event, maps problems in Public Communication during the disaster and suggests seven good PC practices to combat disinformation in climate crises.