- Hannah Gilbert and Giuliana Gragnani
- BBC
Demonstrators invaded the presidential palaces, the Supreme Court and Congress in the Brazilian capital
Last Sunday, the world watched in amazement as thousands of Jair Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Congress, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace in Brazil.
In a scene similar to the attack on the US Capitol nearly two years ago, demonstrators stormed the buildings chanting that the presidential election had been rigged, and that Bolsonaro was the real winner.
But how was this violent demonstration organized in full view of the security services and social media observers? We are investigating this matter to find out how this happened.
invitations to “party”
In recent months, Bolsonaro supporters have been spreading conspiracy theories online, promoting the idea that the former president was the real winner of the election.
image copyright Archyde.com
Security forces work to control demonstrations outside the Congressional Palace in Brasilia
In the days leading up to the attack on the Brazilian Congress, the discussions were heated and included a series of metaphors and indirect expressions. The most prominent speech was the invitation of Brazilians to attend the “Selma Concert”.
The word “Selma” is derived from the word “silva”, which means jungle in Portuguese, and the Brazilian army also uses it as a greeting or as a call to rally soldiers into battle.
Four days before the riots, a video clip of Selma’s “concert” circulated in groups on the social networking application Telegram. In this clip, a man describes the “ingredients” for this “party”, including a brand of Brazilian sugar called Union, and five large heads of corn. The word “maize” was another metaphor. “Milho” in Portuguese means corn, while “milhao” means a million, so this message meant an invitation to five million people to take part in the protest.
Fool the observers
Most social media platforms prohibit and reject calls for violence, so it is possible that these metaphors were intended to deceive and evade content moderators.
In a video posted on TikTok, which has since been deleted, a woman explicitly said she no longer spoke regarding politics on TikTok because she did not want her account removed, then moved on to talk regarding “Selma’s Party”.
Elsewhere, people were posting regarding other “parties”, including one for Selma’s cousin, Thelma, in São Paulo, and her sister, Vilma, in Rio de Janeiro. But these events have not gained much momentum at the moment.
But the main social media platform under scrutiny is Twitter, where hashtags like #SelmaParties trended over the weekend. The hashtag was used to “invite” people to the complex of government buildings known as “Three Powers Square” outside Congress.
image copyright Archyde.com
Demonstrators invaded the presidential palaces, the Supreme Court and Congress in the Brazilian capital
Lack of observers
Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the company has laid off many employees, including employees in Brazil whose role was to tackle election misinformation. Twitter and Musk have repeatedly emphasized that they deal with the most harmful content on the site.
This is not the first time that online misinformation has led to an assault on democracy. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted at a hearing regarding the storming of the US Capitol in 2021 that misinformation on social sites played a role in the incitement. on violence.
