Videos have been circulating on TikTok and YouTube for days alleging voter fraud in Brazil’s recent elections.
On messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram, an image was copied over the weekend from a poster announcing the date, time and location of the anti-government protests.
And on Facebook and Twitter, organizers used hashtags designed to evade detection by authorities as they descended on government buildings in the capital Brasília on Sunday.
A day after the thousands of people broke into government buildings to protest what they falsely claim to be stolen elections, disinformation researchers are studying how the internet was used to stir anger and organize far-right groups ahead of the riots. Many draw a comparison to the January 6 protests in the United States two years ago, when thousands broke into the Capitol in Washington. In both cases, according to them, a scenario was used in which online groups, chats and social media sites were central.
“Digital platforms have been fundamental not only in the far-right domestic terrorism on Sunday, but also in the very long process of online radicalization in Brazil over the past 10 years,” said Michele Prado, an independent researcher who studies digital movements and the Brazilian far-right.
She said calls for violence “have increased exponentially since the last week of December”.
She and other disinformation researchers have singled out Twitter and Telegram as central to organizing protests. In messages on Brazilian Telegram channels viewed by The New York Times, there were open calls for violence against Brazil’s left-wing politicians and their families. There were also addresses of government offices where protesters could attack.
In one image, which The Times found on more than a dozen Telegram channels, there was a call for “patriots” to gather in Brasília on Sunday to mark “another day” of independence. Under many of the posters were details of rally times for protesters.
The hashtag “Festa da Selma” was also widely spread on Twitter, including by far-right extremists previously banned from the platform, Ms Prado said.
In the months since Elon Musk took over Twitter, far-right figures around the world have reinstated their accounts as a blanket amnesty unless they break rules again.
Ms Prado said disinformation investigators in Brazil have reported the accounts to Twitter in hopes the company will take action.
Twitter and Telegram did not respond to requests for comment.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said Sunday’s attacks were a “violating event” and the company was removing content from its platforms that supported or praised the attacks on government buildings in Brazil.
The protesters in Brazil and those in the United States were inspired by the same extremist ideas and conspiracy theories and had both radicalized online, Ms Prado said. In both cases, she added, social media played a vital role in organizing violent attacks.
