The predictable communism-related disinformation narrative long used to discredit and demonize left-leaning political leaders in the U.S. and Latin America is growing in Spanish in Latino public Whatsapp groups weeks out from the elections. 

Donald Trump’s false claims that Kamala Harris is a communist, which he and his most extreme supporters spread leading up to and following the Sept. 10 debate, are fueling the spread of messages in dozens of Spanish-language public WhatsApp groups (with thousands of members). This is not a new smear tactic – it was employed by Javier Milei in Argentina and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, as well as by Donald Trump in 2020, back then to paint Joe Biden as a communist.

According to an analysis by DDIA and Palver, a social listening tool that systematically and anonymously monitors conversations in around 1,300 public WhatsApp groups of Latinos, at least 24,000 Spanish-speaking people have likely been exposed to pieces of content connecting Harris to communism since January 1, 2024. Around 29% of that total exposure likely occurred in the week following the debate, between September 10 and 17.

Two specific false claims aligned with the communism narrative gained traction in the groups the past week. The first one involves a fabricated document that falsely claims that Harris was a member of the Soviet Communist Party. Messages with this hoax spread widely enough on the app in Spanish between September 10 and 17 that Meta flagged it with its double arrow sign – a way for the company to let WhatsApp users know that a piece of information has been forwarded too many times in the platform. 

The second claim amplifies the term “Kamarada Kamala” (or "Camarada Kamala"). This label was coined by Donald Trump as a way to undermine Harris by linking her to communism. At least 9,000 Spanish-speaking WhatsApp users may have been exposed to this type of content between September 10 and 17, representing 53% of all such messages shared throughout the entire year.

"Kamarada Kamala" - from Jan 1 to Sep 17, 2024

The communism narrative harnesses some Latinos’ historical experiences with socialist or communist regimes in Latin America. Immigrants from countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, many of whom fled leftist authoritarian governments, may be particularly sensitive to this connotation.

It is vital to highlight, however, that public data clearly shows that the spread of such disinformation is not limited to Spanish-language digital spaces. The false claim about Harris’s alleged association with the Soviet party, for example, first emerged in English-speaking circles. At the end of August, it was widespread enough in broader spaces that it was debunked by fact-checkers that publish content in English only. 

In 2023 and 2018, respectively, the campaigns of Argentina’s Javier Milei and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro framed their left-leaning rivals as dangerous socialists, as politicians who might put the nation at risk if elected. Similar situation happened during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign. That year, the then-Democrat candidate Joe Biden was falsely portrayed as being aligned with Latin American strongmen like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. Now, Kamala Harris has become the latest target of this disinformation playbook, and baseless claims attempting to associate her with communism and other ultra extreme leftist ideologies might become even more common as the Election Day approaches.

**DDIA regularly monitors 1,300+ public WhatsApp groups that use Spanish and Portuguese as their primary language and comprise at least 30% phone numbers based in the United States (+1).

Note: DDIA does not have insight into account names or locations. Monitoring is done in partnership with Palver.