Secret chat groups: How Bolsonaro supporters planned their attacks

Created: 01/12/2023 15:13

By: Lisa Kuner

For the storming of government buildings, right-wing extremists have organized themselves on social media, among other things.

What do these digital structures look like there?

Brazil – code names, cake recipes and chartered buses – things have been quite conspiratorial in Brazil for a little over a week on various channels of the messenger service Telegram.

At the same time, videos on Instagram and TikTok talked about election fraud, and calls on Facebook and Twitter to drive to Brasilia.

The attempted coup in Brasilia on January 8 was prepared more or less covertly on social media.

After all these announcements, the situation escalated on Sunday.

Several hundred rioters stormed the Supreme Court, Congress and the Presidential Palace in Brasilia and held the buildings under control for several hours.

During the coup attempt, various art objects were destroyed and at least eight journalists were attacked.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the rioters "fascists" and "terrorists".

Now the question arises as to who is behind it and how it could have happened - and how the campaign was prepared.

Heloisa Massaro looks primarily at digital infrastructure.

"Since around January 4th, we have found more and more requests to go to Brasilia on the channels," she says in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA.

Massaro is director of the Internetlab, a think tank in São Paulo that works on digital politics.

In a research project with several universities, the think tank is monitoring extremist channels on Telegram.

Code word: Selma's party – storming Brazil's democracy

Supporters of the right-wing extremist ex-president Jair Bolsonaro have been gathering in many of these chat groups for a long time.

He narrowly lost the runoff election for the presidency at the end of October to his challenger, the left-leaning Lula.

Bolsonaro never publicly acknowledged this election defeat – and neither did many of his supporters.

After the election, there were road blockades and pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations across the country.

In addition, protest camps were set up in various places and a military intervention was called for.

The so-called Bolsonaristas have networked on Telegram, among other things.

Under the code word "Festa da Selma" (Selma's party), they have been trying to mobilize people to travel to Brasilia since the beginning of January.

Cake recipes that provided clues as to how the day should go were also shared.

After the storming of the government district in Brazil, the process is now coming to an end © Eraldo Peres/dpa

The groups were also offered seats on buses to travel to the Brazilian capital and calls to occupy government buildings were shared.

"None of this really happened in secret," says the scientist Massaro.

Political organization on social media and especially on Telegram is not new.

"Since the election, the narrative of voter fraud has been created there again and again," explains Massaro.

Ex-President Bolsonaro had repeatedly spoken of possible electoral fraud before the elections.

However, there are no serious indications that something was wrong with the election.

The whole process is very similar to what ex-US President Donald Trump did.

Brazil: Bolsonaro's followers construct a parallel world

"A kind of parallel information system is constructed in the chat groups," says Heloisa Massaro.

"People believe in things that fit into their worldview." After the coup attempt, for example, it was repeatedly repeated that so-called "infiltrated" people were responsible for the chaos and the riots on Sunday, while the real Bolsonaristas only demonstrated peacefully.

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After Lula's inauguration, groups claimed the ceremony was just "fake."

Otherwise, the chat groups are often about everyday things, sometimes about religion and faith.

"Again and again we see images from classic conspiracy theories," adds Massaro.

Massaro and her colleagues observe that primarily radicalized supporters gather on Telegram.

They create narratives and content there that later appear on other networks.

How exactly these groups organize themselves is difficult to say.

"We don't know for sure if it's just a natural, organic spread of information, or if there's some kind of coordination behind it," says Massaro.

"It's probably a mixture of both."

The discussions are fueled again and again by ambiguous statements by ex-President Bolsonaro.

There is also a whole network of influencers and conservative politicians who bring the narratives to the public.

Bolsonaro's son Carlos Bolsonaro is often present.

Even if social media provide the breeding ground for radicalization: From Heloisa Massaro's point of view, it is clear that extremist chat groups cannot be held solely responsible for the situation in the country.

"You shouldn't look at this digital phenomenon in isolation," she says.

Instead, one must look at extremism in Brazil both online and offline and perceive and address it as a complex problem.