Fact-Checking Role Performances and Problematic Covid-19 Vaccine Content in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

Building on studies focused on journalistic role performance, we investigated how professional fact‐checkers in Latin America and sub‐Saharan Africa conceived of and performed their professional roles when addressing Covid‐19 vaccination topics. Interviews with fact‐checkers from six well‐established, Meta‐affiliated, International Fact‐Checking Network‐accredited organizations operating in these regions indicated that fact‐checkers recognized the diversification of tasks and new roles associated with addressing problematic content from social media users. However, fact‐checkers expressed unanimous commitment to
prioritizing political and media watchdog activities in response to problematic Covid‐19 vaccine information spreading from elite sources. To compare these role conceptions with role performance, we conducted a content analysis of Covid‐19 vaccine content posted in 2021 to these fact‐checkers’ Facebook accounts.
We found that content was mostly associated with explainers or debunking content (addressing hoaxes or rumors about Covid‐19 vaccines from non‐elite social media users). In particular, the abundance of explainers, compared with other genres of fact‐checking content, aligns fact‐checkers with professional
roles as civic service providers, educators, and “interpreters” of health information.