Why false claims about Brazil's election are spreading in far-right U.S. circles

Conspiracy theories about Brazil's electronic voting machines, shown here, have spread online. Far-right influencers in the U.S. have seized on Brazil's election as a way of keeping conspiratorial narratives alive ahead of the U.S. midterms in early November. (Caio Guatelli/AFP via Getty Images)

Baseless claims that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic are being used to rig voting in Brazil are circulating online and in far-right media in the U.S. — even though neither company's hardware or software is being used in the current election there.

It's the latest example of how debunked election fraud narratives are going international. In many cases, the false claims about Brazil are being pushed in English to American audiences by right-wing influencers and conservative media sites who falsely assert that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and appear to be planting the idea that similar fraud will occur in the upcoming midterms.