WhatsApp dirty tricks alleged in Brazil
Leftist candidate Haddad accused farright Bolsonaro of “illegal” tactics
Allegations of a dirty tricks campaign on WhatsApp dominated Brazil’s presidential election race on Thursday, turning attention to social media manipulation following abuses uncovered in the last US election and Britain’s Brexit referendum.
Trailing leftist candidate Fernando Haddad accused the farright front-runner, Jair Bolsonaro, of “illegal” electoral tactics after a report that companies were poised to unleash a flood of WhatsApp messages attacking him and his Workers Party.
Ordinary Brazilians told AFP they got much of their election information through WhatsApp.
Andre de Souza, a 35-yearold lawyer leaning toward voting for Bolsonaro, said he receives around 500 WhatsApp messages a day for and against both candidates. The rumours and false information “don’t make a difference to me,” he said, but added: “My mother received a WhatsApp message saying Bolsonaro was doing away with (mandatory) endof-year salary payments, and she believed it!”
Messaging ‘slander’
Haddad made his accusation after Brazil’s widest circulated newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo, reported it had discovered contracts worth up to $3.2 million (Dh11.75 million) each for companies to send out bulk WhatsApp messages attacking the Workers Party.
Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Tiago Ayres, told a financial daily there was no evidence of any connection between the companies mentioned by Folha de Sao Paulo and Bolsonaro’s campaign.
The row shone a light on an issue that has become a pressing one in democracies: the organised abuse of social media to sway public opinion in countries.