On TikTok and YouTube, videos alleging voter fraud during the recent Brazilian election were played over and over again for days.
On the messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram, an image of a poster announcing the date, time and location of the anti-government protests was copied and shared over the weekend.
And on Facebook and Twitter, hashtags are designed to avoid detection of the government was used by organizers as they descended on government buildings in the capital Brasília on Sunday.
One day after thousands of people break into government buildings to protest what they claim to be false a stolen election, disinformation researchers are studying how the internet is used to stoke anger and organize far-right groups in the face of riots. Many are comparing it to the January 6 protests two years ago in the United States, where thousands stormed the Capitol building in Washington. They say that in both cases, a playbook was used in which online groups, chats and social networking sites played a central role.
“Digital platforms are fundamental not only in far-right terrorism in the country in recent years,” said Michele Prado, an independent researcher specializing in digital and digital movements. Sunday, but also during the entire process of online radicalization that has lasted more than 10 years in Brazil.” Brazil on the far right.
She said that calls for violence had “increased exponentially since the last week of December.”
She and other disinformation researchers have shown that Twitter and Telegram play a central role in organizing the protests. In posts on Brazilian Telegram channels seen by The New York Times, there were calls for violence against Brazilian leftist politicians and their families. There are also addresses of government offices for protesters to attack.
In an image The Times found on more than a dozen Telegram channels, there is a call for “patriots” to gather in Brasília on Sunday to “mark a new day” of independence. Beneath many of the posters were detailed information about the protesters’ rally times.
Ms. Prado said the hashtag “Festa da Selma” was also widely circulated on Twitter, including by far-right extremists, who were previously banned from the platform.
In the months since Elon Musk took over Twitter, far-right figures around the world have had their accounts reinstated as a general amnesty unless they break the rules again.
Ms. Prado said that disinformation researchers in Brazil reported these accounts to Twitter in the hope that the company would 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 “breach event” and that the company was removing content on platforms that advocated or praised the attacks. government buildings in Brazil.
Prado said protesters in Brazil and those in the United States were inspired by the same extremist ideas and conspiracy theories and both were radicalized online. In both cases, she added, social media played an important role in organizing violent attacks.
