Lula’s digital triumph in Brazil election offers global model for the left

{"text":[[{"start":10.48,"text":"The mass digital mobilisation that helped re-elect Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is inspiring leftwing activists in other countries to try similar methods on a social media battleground long dominated by the radical right."}],[{"start":25.04,"text":"Lula’s unexpected victory last month was credited in part to an allied lawmaker who ran a WhatsApp channel that grew from 50,000 followers before the first round of the presidential election to almost 11mn at the time of the run-off three weeks later."}],[{"start":40.44,"text":"André Janones fired off a constant stream of motivational messages and “missions” to the group called “Lula’s army”, encouraging members to recruit supporters, share campaign material and amplify pro-Lula online content. Its peak membership was equivalent to almost 7 per cent of the electorate."}],[{"start":58.88,"text":"The congressman’s efforts were central to an overhaul of Lula’s digital strategy, undertaken after hard-right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro came top in the first-round ballot earlier in October. Virtually all polls had placed the opposition candidate as favourite in the second round."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":75.4,"text":"Lula’s supporters increasingly outposted those of Bolsonaro as the campaign went on, according to social listening and audience intelligence platform Pulsar. His official accounts followed a similar pattern: Lula’s team stepped up its posting in the weeks before the vote and published significantly more than Bolsonaro’s during the election."}],[{"start":94.64,"text":"With populist rightwing forces having proven more adept online in many western democracies, the success has caught the attention of leftwingers and liberals elsewhere."}],[{"start":104.32,"text":"“Social media conversation trends show that parties on the left are more and more adopting the mobilising tactics we’ve become used to seeing from parties of the right. These helped propel Lula to victory in Brazil, and we’re seeing interest in similar tactics emerging across Spain and France ahead of fresh elections,” said Alex Bryson, head of content at Pulsar."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":125.2,"text":"In neighbouring Argentina, a WhatsApp channel dubbed “Peronism’s Army” was launched on the evening of Lula’s victory. It aims to boost the left-leaning populist movement ahead of an election fight next year against libertarian president Javier Milei, whose social media strategy propelled his outsider victory in 2023."}],[{"start":145.4,"text":"For its first two “missions”, members of the Peronist group, which now number more than 60,000, were told to push phrases condemning Milei and his sister and chief of staff, Karina Milei, to trend on X, becoming the fifth and fourth top hashtags of the week in Argentina, according to analysis site GetDayTrends."}],[{"start":164.04,"text":"The French far-left party France Unbowed is also encouraging supporters to learn from the Lula strategy. “This mobilisation technique is excellent. We are also implementing it in France with a dedicated WhatsApp group that I invite you to join now,” the party’s communications head, Antoine Léaument, wrote in a blog laying out lessons from the Janones experience."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":184.28,"text":"The new WhatsApp channel for party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon had gained 168,000 followers by Sunday and France Unbowed is also mobilising pre-existing channels on messaging platforms Telegram and Discord."}],[{"start":197.44,"text":"Ahead of a snap election in Spain later this month, supporters of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have flocked to a WhatsApp channel called “The Power of the People”. Its followers have grown more than sixfold to 44,000 since Tuesday last week."}],[{"start":212.56,"text":"After the deadly train crash in Spain last week, the group switched to publishing calls for blood donations and praising health and emergency services personnel. But since then it has also published a guide on “how to deny oxygen to the far right” in an allusion to Vox, a rightwing populist party that polls suggest may have a chance to form a coalition government with Spain’s mainstream conservatives."}],[{"start":234.88,"text":"Spanish activists have circulated a six-point guide distilling Janones’s core practices. They include massively sharing favourable content and denying visibility to the adversary by not responding to fake news."}],[{"start":247.6,"text":"The 42-year-old Brazilian congressman deployed military language, calling himself the general and Lula the marshal. Repeated expressions such as “Guys, urgent” and “explode!” became viral catchphrases."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":260,"text":"David Nemer, an anthropology professor at the University of Virginia, said Janones had “flipped around” methods developed by the hard-right Bolsonarismo movement over the past decade to counter it."}],[{"start":271.32,"text":"“He gave [to members of the WhatsApp channel] one commander backed publicly by Lula, a small task every day, a game with soldiers and missions and a marshal, and a follower count that let them see the effect of what they’d done,” said Nemer."}],[{"start":286.4,"text":"Janones also instructed followers on how to game social media algorithms. This included liking and commenting on videos before watching them and not interacting with provocative posts by rightwingers, to avoid spreading them."}],[{"start":299.8,"text":"“Outrage is what feeds the other side’s machine, and 10mn people withholding it is the smartest thing the Brazilian left has done online,” added Nemer."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":308.76,"text":"FT analysis of the campaigns’ official social media accounts also shows the scale of posting by Lula, now 81, who only last year confessed to not owning a mobile phone. After Bolsonaro gained an unexpected two-point advantage in the first round, Lula began shooting his first selfie videos."}],[{"start":326.8,"text":"Across TikTok and Instagram, the leftwinger published 472 posts between the first and second rounds, compared with 101 for his opponent."}],[{"start":336.68,"text":"Critics of Janones, however, accused him of sometimes spreading misinformation, a long-running charge against Bolsonarismo. Warnings that Bolsonaro would cut welfare and public services were decried as “fake news” by the defeated candidate. Other criticisms concerned the obedience Janones demanded from followers and the operation’s centralised leadership. The FT has approached Janones for comment."}],[{"start":360.68,"text":"Social media experts caution that the Lula strategy will not necessarily work in other settings. “You need a candidate the base already loves, a commander that the candidate will authorise in public, a fear strong enough to turn into tasks, and a [digital] platform that’s already the plumbing of daily life,” said Nemer."}],[{"start":378.76,"text":"Analysts say more digital engagement might have limited benefit for the fragmented Peronist movement in Argentina, which has struggled to unify behind a new leader or a new message after its last government lost to Milei amid triple-digit inflation."}],[{"start":391.72,"text":"“Without leadership to give you consistency in terms of messaging and narrative, you can build as many channels as you want but you won’t have anything to use them for,” said Marcelo J García, a director at consultancy Horizon Engage."}],[{"start":405.2,"text":"Additional reporting by Ciara Nugent in Buenos Aires, Barney Jopson in Madrid and Adrienne Klasa in Paris"}],[{"start":415.2,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793696837_3155.mp3"}