Bolsonaristas return to using Telegram to call demonstrations with conspiracy theories

Supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) once again use conspiracy theories and publish radicalized messages to draw the attention of more people to participate in the act in defense of the former president on Avenida Paulista, on February 25th. The strategy consists of disseminating misinformation, extremist content, crowdfunding and caravans to the demonstration.

Users once again shared, for example, the belief of a general strike by truck drivers, motorcyclists and agribusiness entrepreneurs, while, at the same time, financial scammers are also taking advantage of the moment to try to deceive people using deep fakes.

A survey carried out by the Digital Humanities Laboratory (LAB-HD) of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) with support from InternetLab counted 951 messages in 96 groups and 113 channels on Telegram, a messaging application, which involve mentions relating to February 25th.

Among the messages, Bolsonaro and his family are mentioned 166 times, religious leaders and institutions are mentioned 35 times and the Federal Supreme Court and ministers are mentioned 15 times.

“President Bolsonaro is giving a message: we are 11 days away from the biggest event of democracy and rescue of patriotic movements like the 70 days in the barracks. I was there and you?” says one of the messages, which circulated in 16 of the monitored groups. “We will answer his call for 02/25/2024 at 3pm on Avenida Paulista. Don’t forget who the governor of SP is, who will certainly give you all the support you need.”

Bolsonaro's call on Instagram is the former president's 12th post with the most engagement in the last 365 days, according to the Bites agency, a data analysis company. There were approximately 1.4 million reactions (the sum of likes, shares and comments). The video was viewed 14.4 million times.

The last time Lula had such an impact on his online profile was on November 4, when he spoke about the National High School Exam (ENEM).

“This shows a strength from the former president that was not seen a few months ago. It is a sign that the mobilization for the act is very strong in these first days since the call, which should be a cause for concern for the government and the STF”, says André Eler, deputy director of Bites.

In these different groups messages begin to circulate calling for motorcycle clubs and people linked to agribusiness. “Brazil will rise. The motorcycle clubs are rising up, the people are rising up, truck drivers will rise up. And Brazil is living in a different moment, with everyone willing to defend our captain”, says a man in a video circulating in these groups. “I think they messed with the anthill. The people will rise up and they will not accept putting the captain in jail out of vanity.”

Other messages call on truck drivers to stop if Bolsonaro is arrested. “A matter that is circulating behind the scenes. That a major general strike by truck drivers and agriculture is being coordinated shortly after Bolsonaro’s arrest”, says a message, without giving further details. “Guys, prepare for the worst, because there will be shortages in markets and gas stations, in general.”

“Today, even after Bolsonaro's departure, we have a multiplatform ecosystem of disinformation and hateful messages that quickly received this call from the former president. I believe that the demonstration could potentially attract a lot of people”, says Leonardo Nascimento, researcher at LABHD, at UFBA, responsible for the survey. “This creates an effervescence in the group, of a conspiratorial nature, which is worrying.”

Bolsonaristas have not held a large demonstration since January 8th. As shown by the Estadãoafter the attacks and the arrest of the coup plotters, users in WhatsApp and Telegram groups were left in a desolate mood and afraid to make any political demonstration.

Now, radicalized messages have once again gained greater recirculation in groups on Telegram. “Noise, conservatives! Now is not the time to retire the bells. Patriotic Brazil needs to wake up to battle!”, states a message circulating on these pages.

Other users prefer to remain cautious. There is a repeated request that no one carry banners or posters, following the guidance given by Bolsonaro, when recording a video calling for the demonstration. “I ask all of you to show up wearing green and yellow and, more than that: not to show up with any banner or poster against anyone,” he said, in the video posted on his social media profile.

“Don’t take posters. The president said not to take it,” said one user. “The left wants to infiltrate to raise posters to arrest Bolsonaro.”

On Telegram itself, members try to find out about caravans from other parts of Brazil to go to Avenida Paulista. As shown by the Estadão, at least five of them are published repeatedly on social media. The cars will depart from the interior of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.

Financial scammers take advantage of the moment to deceive Bolsonaro supporters

In the midst of spontaneous organizations, crowdfunding and the organization of buses for transportation, scammers try to trick Bolsonaro supporters into making donations in manipulated videos.

One of them mixes forged audios with an original publication by federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) to take Bolsonaro supporters to a website that would be responsible for organizing the entire structure of the event on Avenida Paulista. “There is the website for the event that will take place on the 25th. Every big event has a cost, right, we need to pay for all the structure and security”, says a manipulated excerpt.

The video gains traction in groups on Telegram and WhatsApp and fooled some Bolsonarists, who sent messages of support to Nikolas. To the Estadãothe deputy confirmed that the video is fake and he is studying what measures he will take against the content.