October 18, 2018
An investigative report published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo on October 18, uncoveredd that companies paid to massively spread messages against the Workers’ Party (PT) by WhatsApp. According to the note, the companies are organizing a big online action for the week before the second round of the elections, which will take place on October 28.
Followers of Jair Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Social Party, are using databases of users sold by digital agencies or collected by the team of the far-right candidate. Brazilian law only authorizes the use of the candidate’s own list of followers, through contacts sent on a voluntary basis.
The cost to spread hundreds of millions of messages, of the combined contracts signed reaches about $3.2 million USD. Among the companies that bought the services is the Havan department store, which belongs to Luciano Hang, a Brazilian businessman accused of forcing his officials to vote for Bolsonaro. These actions can be considered illegal if a direct link between the private institutions and the far-right candidate is proven, since it would be configured as donations from companies to political campaigns.
As João Meira, a specialist in political law, explains, articles 222 and 237 of the Brazilian electoral law talks about the annulment of elections by illegal campaign methods and abuse of economic power.
“With the power that advertising by Whatsapp has and the factory of un suprevised lies that was generated, if an abuse of economic power is proven, with illegal contracts, it would result in a fraud that undermines the electoral process. If it is proven that Bolsonaro and his campaign are linked to the actions of those groups of people who carried out the illicit acts, even though he is elected, he could lose his position and be considered ineligible for 8 years.”
Among the digital agencies identified by the newspaper’s report as responsible for the massive diffusion of false messages are Quickmobile, Yacows, Croc Services and SMS Market. However, only AM4 Brasil Inteligência Digital, which received about $ 31 thousand dollars for digital services, appears in Bolsonaro’s accounts.
The values of the services vary between 8 to 11 for each message sent to the candidate’s contact lists. Digital agencies even offer segmentation by geographic region and income classification.
The candidate of the Workers Party, Fernando Haddad, the main target of the false news in these elections, affirmed that he will go to the Department of Justice to prosecute the companies involved. For him, the episode shows once again that Bolsonaro has no respect democracy.
“We are going to request that the Electoral Justice and the Federal Police take all measures so that these corrupt businessmen are immediately arrested to prevent the diffusion of these messages by WhatsApp. We already know the names of the businessmen, the companies, the contracts, and the amounts paid using Box B [which is money used and no declared by candidates]. He [Bolsonaro], who refuse to participate in debates, is not going to be able to flee from Justice,” Haddad said in a video.
In a note, the Workers Party claims to have filed a request with the Federal Police to investigate “Bolsonaro’s criminal practices.
“This is a coordinated action to influence the electoral contest, which Justice cannot ignore or let go unpunished. We are taking all the necessary measures to hold him responsible for his crimes, among them, the use of box b, because the millionaire expenses in the industry of lies were not declared by his campaign,” the text states.
“Congressman Jair Bolsonaro’s criminal methods are intolerable in a democracy. Brazilian institutions have a duty to act in defense of integrity in the electoral process. Social networks cannot witness a spread of lies and offenses, becoming complicit in the manipulation of thousands of users,” denounces the PT’s note.
Source: Brazil de Fato, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau