Informed and empowered

Everyone has the power to defend the truth and protect themselves and their communities from misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Scroll down to learn more

Informed and empowered

Everyone has the power to defend the truth and protect themselves and their communities from misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

Scroll down to learn more

ABOUT DEFIENDE LA VERDAD

Defiende La Verdad (DLV)

is a campaign by NALEO Educational Fund to build capacity among community members and leaders to counter misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) targeting the Latino community within the civic engagement space

We achieve this work by:

  • Providing bilingual presentations and trainings with resources for community leaders, advocates, and stakeholders to counter MDM campaigns that target Latino communities.
  • Recruiting community leaders, volunteers, and other key messengers to strengthen our monitoring and reporting program.
  • Engaging with media partners, particularly Spanish-language media, to improve coverage of this issue and raise public awareness.
  • Developing rapid response protocols with social media companies to flag harmful content.

What is MDM?

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation (MDM) are terms used to define falsely crafted information that can be harmful to communities.

Misinformation

Information that is false but not created to cause harm.

Example: A post on social media accidentally containing incorrect voting hours.

Disinformation

False information deliberately created and crafted to cause harm.

Example: A piece of election literature that purposely contains the wrong date for when the election is being held.

Malinformation

Information based on reality but distorted and altered to cause harm.

Example: Social media posts incorrectly claiming Election Day technical difficulties at the polls were an intentional attempt at suppressing the vote.

Resources

Fact-checking Resources

Fact-checking is the act of verifying the accuracy of information. This activity has become a core tactic against the spread of MDM and is used after exposure to MDM. Community leaders and advocates can help spread the word about these tools within their communities. Check out these fact-checking resources from prominent organizations that have made their tools available online and on WhatsApp!

Media Literacy

Efforts to increase media literacy aim to build individuals’ ability to critically analyze the accuracy and credibility of the information they come across via mass media.

These organizations help the public increase their ability to discern true and false information and navigate the digital news environment carefully.

Ongoing Research

NALEO Educational Fund recognizes that much more research is necessary to better understand how and why MDM narratives spread and which tools are most effective to counter it. The following organizations are dedicated to implementing ongoing research focused on MDM and the Latino community.

Additional Resources

To learn more about MDM and its impact on Latino communities, please see the links below:

Interested in volunteering with NALEO Educational Fund?

Follow this link to check out ways to get involved and help advance the Latino community’s civic and political participation.

Report MDM Incident

Copyright ©2025 NALEO Educational Fund. All rights reserved.