Disinformation in encrypted environments and social conflict prevention: A systematic review of multisectoral strategies
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Abstract
Disinformation on private messaging platforms represents a critical challenge for contemporary societies, as encrypted environments enable the opaque circulation of false content, rumors, and polarizing narratives with the potential to undermine public trust and escalate social conflicts. This problem becomes particularly relevant in electoral, health, war-related, and institutional crisis contexts, where WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, and other messaging services operate both as interpersonal communication channels and as spaces for collective mobilization. The objective of this article was to evaluate the strategies implemented by private messaging platforms, governments, and civil society to counter disinformation in encrypted environments and to examine their effectiveness in preventing social conflicts between 2015 and 2026. A systematic literature review was conducted, following structured search, inclusion, and exclusion criteria aimed at identifying studies on technical, regulatory, and community-based interventions against disinformation in private messaging applications. The findings show that platforms have prioritized verification bots, fact-checking chatbots, warning systems, content fingerprinting, and decentralized moderation; governments have adopted regulatory frameworks, counternarratives, transparency measures, and official communication strategies; while civil society has promoted fact-checking, media literacy, verification tiplines, community campaigns, and hybrid communication strategies. The review concludes that the effectiveness of these strategies is differentiated and indirect, as it depends on user trust, institutional legitimacy, cultural adaptation, and compatibility with privacy protections. Therefore, the prevention of social conflicts requires collaborative models that integrate technological innovation, proportional regulation, and community resilience. This study contributes to the field by offering an integrated understanding of how different actors respond to disinformation in encrypted environments and by highlighting the need for context-sensitive interventions that protect digital rights while reducing the social harms associated with false information
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