"Youth are dripping AIDS": stigmatization and online conversations about journalistic content

The article analyzes the conversation around content about HIV/AIDS produced by G1 on its Instagram profile in July 2026. The objective is to understand how interagents produce, negotiate and dispute meanings from journalistic content. The thematic analysis of the 94 comments allowed the formulation of ten categories, with a predominance of stigmatization in 36.2% of the contents. The results demonstrate the persistence of prejudices in relation to gender and sexuality and, in some cases, the fight against stigma can, paradoxically, reiterate representations that attribute an identifiable "face" to the epidemic. Finally, the presence of disinformation and conspiracy theories conflict with the production of memory, the defense of public policies and human rights, pointing out challenges for journalism in the (re)construction of its authority in participatory environments.