01/11/2024 – 17:55
The Cyber Operations Laboratory of the Ministry of Justice closely monitored the movements of Bolsonaro supporters on social media in the weeks leading up to the one-year “anniversary” of the coup acts in Praça dos Três Poderes.
Department technicians have monitored the evolution of conversations since December 2023. The objective was to anticipate if new violent demonstrations were called.
One of the work fronts consisted of monitoring recurring terms that could be related to articulations. The research is useful for tracing what researchers and experts call “sentiment analysis” – users’ perception of a topic.
Hashtags such as Fora Lula and his gang, January 8th Patriot's Day, Giving up is not an option, Strike now and Political prisoners were found. The engagement, however, was modest and did not arouse concern.
Another strategy identified by analysts was the recovery of old publications, prior to the protests on January 8, 2023, as if they were new and, with this, trying to encourage the return of protesters to Brasília.
An old audio offering free buses to protesters who wanted to travel to the federal capital recirculated in one of the Bolsonaro groups on WhastApp.
“What they need is people, people to fill these buses. They have three buses with 55 people, because in Brasília they are going to make a movement on Tuesday to accommodate five million people. So if you know of someone who or has someone who can go, it’s zero cost, okay? Zero cost, just enter with your body, let’s put it that way”, says the audio taken out of context.
Truck drivers' efforts to protest in different states were also the subject of attention. Publications advocating a “general strike” for the category were mapped, but the concrete chance of a strike was ruled out. For analysts, they would just be posts “looking for likes” on the networks.
One of the reports produced by the Cyber Operations Laboratory warned of the need for “constant monitoring of social networks and collection of information” and strengthening the security of public buildings to avoid new scenes of depredation.
“We are faced with information that indicates possible commemorations of crimes committed in an attack on the democratic rule of law”, says the document. “These reports emerged in the same context in which President Lula called for an act for democracy, in a ceremony on the same date at 3pm in the Senate plenary. Therefore, any risk must be avoided.”
The event called by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which brought together the heads of Power in Brasília a year after the attacks, took place under reinforced security and without complications.
All laboratory monitoring was based on publications in open sources, that is, without breach of confidentiality or interceptions. One of the concerns was not to discredit in advance the power of articulations on social networks, considered a blind spot on January 8, 2023.
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