Imagine scrolling through social media during an election: a video appears of a candidate saying something outrageous, an image goes viral with a shocking caption, and a friend forwards a meme that seems to confirm your worst fears about politics. In Mexico, this is not a hypothetical scenario. The 2024 elections unfolded in a digital environment where artificial intelligence, automated accounts, and recommendation algorithms made it easier than ever to create and spread false or misleading information. Deepfakes, manipulated audio, and synthetic media blurred the line between what was real and what was fabricated. In response, two very different kinds of institutions stepped up to protect the integrity of democratic debate. One was Verificado, a civil society fact-checking organization rooted in journalism and civic education. The other was the Digital Media Observatory at Tecnológico de Monterrey (OMD-Tec), an academic initiative that used AI-powered tools to monitor social media conversations in real time. This article examines how these two organizations worked to counter AI-driven disinformation during electoral processes, and how their strategies reflect a broader vision of media and information literacy (MIL) as a collective, democratic project. Drawing on UNESCO’s MIL framework, media ecology, and general semantics, the research shows that fighting disinformation is not just about correcting false claims—it is about building a whole ecosystem of critical thinking, collaboration, and civic resilience.
To understand why this matters, it helps to look at how media and information literacy has evolved in Latin America. MIL is often defined as the ability to access, understand, evaluate, and create information in all its forms. UNESCO has promoted it as a key ingredient of healthy democracies, especially in the digital age. In Latin America, MIL initiatives have historically grown out of non-formal education, popular movements, and civil society rather than state curricula. In Mexico, however, there is still no formal, national framework for teaching media literacy in schools, and the topic remains on the margins of public policy. This gap becomes more dangerous as social media becomes a primary news source. Facebook is used for news by over half of Mexicans, WhatsApp is a major channel for political messaging, and TikTok is growing quickly. At the same time, AI has supercharged disinformation by enabling the mass production of fake content, the automation of coordinated campaigns, and the algorithmic amplification of emotionally charged or polarizing narratives. Filter bubbles and recommendation systems reinforce existing beliefs while shutting out opposing views. Studies of the 2024 Mexican election found that X, Facebook, and TikTok were used to spread ideological messages, attack candidates with decontextualized images, and create fake profiles designed to mislead voters. This is not a simple problem of a few bad actors; it is a systemic feature of digital platforms, whose business models reward engagement over accuracy.
Against this backdrop, the research used a qualitative case study approach to understand how civic and academic actors are responding. Verificado was founded in 2017 in Monterrey by four women who wanted to bring accountability to public discourse. After collaborating on earthquake relief verification, the organization turned toward political fact-checking, inspired by Argentina’s Chequeado. Over the years, Verificado developed a methodology based on content selection, source checking, cross-referencing, and contextualization. Its work became especially important during elections, when disinformation can easily distort public perception of candidates and institutions. The 2024 campaign was historic because two women competed as front-runners, but it also exposed ugly gender dynamics. Verificado launched an Observatory on Hate Speech and Disinformation that monitored sexist, racist, xenophobic, and anti-diversity narratives targeting women and LGBTQ+ candidates. The observatory produced dozens of fact-checking reports showing that disinformation was not random but systematic, often using ethnicity, nationality, or personal decisions to attack female politicians in ways that sidestepped policy debates. Meanwhile, OMD-Tec, created in 2024, approached the problem from a different angle. It employed web scraping, AI-powered verification tools, and public dashboards to track how candidates were discussed across platforms. By analyzing sentiment, engagement, and influence, the observatory uncovered patterns of polarization, echo chambers, and coordinated messaging. Together, these two cases illustrate complementary ways of understanding and confronting the information crisis: one through journalistic verification and education, the other through data-driven monitoring and technological innovation.
The findings reveal a rich set of strategies for building media and information literacy in real-world contexts. Verificado did not limit itself to debunking false claims. It embedded MIL into nearly everything it did. In 2022, the organization launched the Media and Information Literacy Academy (MILA), a workshop program that trained young people and adults in skills like digital footprint management, cybersecurity, and content creation. The goal was not just to teach people how to spot fake news, but to turn them into thoughtful producers of media. In 2025, Verificado and Chequeado launched Verificaula, a free online learning platform filled with guides, manuals, and resources for anyone who wants to strengthen their critical thinking about online information. The organization also organized the first Fact Fest, a lively public event that combined expert discussions with “Verificatón” exercises where students fact-checked images, videos, and headlines in real time. These initiatives reflect a shift from a defensive model of fact-checking to an empowering model of civic education. At the same time, OMD-Tec demonstrated how AI can be used as a force for transparency. Its dashboards allowed researchers and the public to see which candidates generated the most engagement, what topics dominated conversations, and how sentiment varied across platforms. Histograms and network analyses helped identify influential accounts and coordinated messaging. While AI was part of the problem—enabling deepfakes and automated disinformation—it also became part of the solution by making monitoring faster, broader, and more precise. The researchers emphasized that human interpretation remains essential; AI tools are only as good as the ethical frameworks and critical judgment behind them.
The deeper message of this research is that media and information literacy is not just about individual skills. It is about understanding the environments in which information circulates. General semantics provides a useful lens here, especially the idea that “the map is not the territory.” In a digital world, we interact with representations of reality rather than reality itself, and those representations are shaped by platforms, algorithms, and economic incentives. Recognizing this gap is a form of cognitive hygiene. Media ecology, meanwhile, teaches us that media are not neutral tubes that deliver messages; they are environments that shape how we think, feel, and act. Social media platforms are designed to reward emotional intensity, and that structural reality makes them fertile ground for disinformation. Therefore, MIL must include algorithmic literacy—the ability to understand how digital platforms prioritize, recommend, and hide content. It must also include a gender perspective, since AI often amplifies existing biases and disproportionately targets women and marginalized groups. The research shows that addressing disinformation requires more than fact-checking alone. It requires collaboration among civil society, universities, media organizations, technology companies, and governments. The UNESCO MIL Cities framework captures this ecosystemic vision by treating cities as spaces where institutions and citizens co-create information resilience. In Mexico, the partnership between Verificado and Tecnológico de Monterrey is an example of this kind of ecosystem in action, showing that education, verification, and technology are most powerful when they work together.
In conclusion, the fight against AI-driven disinformation in Latin America cannot be won by isolated interventions. Media and information literacy must be understood as a structural pillar of democratic resilience—a civic infrastructure that supports informed participation and protects public trust. Verificado and OMD-Tec offer compelling models of how fact-checking organizations and academic observatories can contribute to this infrastructure. Verificado shows that fact-checkers can go beyond correction and become educators, creating spaces like MILA, Verificaula, and Fact Fest where people learn to question, verify, and create ethically. OMD-Tec shows that AI, when guided by research and public interest, can help citizens see the hidden dynamics of digital platforms and understand how narratives are manufactured and amplified. Together, they demonstrate that a collaborative, cross-sectoral approach can turn disinformation from an overwhelming threat into a manageable challenge. The research also highlights the importance of embedding gender perspectives and human rights frameworks in MIL initiatives, so that efforts to protect information integrity do not reproduce existing inequalities. While this study focused on institutional strategies rather than measuring impact on audiences, it opens the door for future research on how these initiatives affect voters, educators, and civil society. Ultimately, the Mexican experience offers valuable lessons for the rest of Latin America and the world. Democratic governance in the age of artificial intelligence demands not only new laws and transparent platforms, but also citizens who are equipped to navigate a complex, contested, and sometimes deceptive information landscape. The work of Verificado and OMD-Tec reminds us that truth is not something we can simply receive; it is something we must actively build, together, through education, collaboration, and critical engagement.