The Superior Electoral Court will monitor the content posted on their social networks by councilman Carlos Bolsonaro, son of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL, right) and architect of his digital campaign, and congressman André Janones, an ally of former president Luiz Lula da Silva and strategist of the local left on the Internet.
In his decision, Judge Benedito Goncalves ordered the preparation of “five reports” on the content published between Oct. 22 and 29 and said that if, after the legal analysis, it is concluded that there is “systematic production of disinformation”, the suspension of the profiles, accounts, and channels of the mentioned politicians will be determined.
The TSE magistrate considers that in the behavior in the networks of both, there are “many similar aspects” in the dissemination of false or seriously decontextualized contents, as well as in the persistence of the use of keywords to reactivate the effects of contents eliminated by the Electoral Justice.
Even so, Goncalves highlights that the situation of both is not comparable because in the case of the president’s son, investigated for leading an alleged disinformation network, there is “greater complexity” due to the high number of profiles that would be involved and because there is a “coordinated action to disperse false content harmful to the candidate da Silva”.
The electoral campaign in Brazil, especially in the runoff, has been marked by the dissemination of lies, hoaxes, and disinformation, especially from the pro-Bolsonaro camp, to attack the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT, left).
Da Silva leads the polls ahead of the elections on Sunday, Oct. 30, although the polls of the last days show a decreasing advantage over Bolsonaro.