RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A children’s YouTuber, a rap singer, and an Argentine chef lead the fierce “opposition bench” to President Jair Bolsonaro and his sons on social media.
Felipe Neto, from children’s humor programs, Marcelo D2, from songs about violence against youths in the suburbs, and Paola Carosella move with ease into the political discussions of these media and gained even more supporters in Bolsonaro’s first year in office.
Surveys by companies analyzing platforms such as Twitter and Facebook show that digital influencers such as these not only manage to rival Bolsonarism but are today the greatest anti-government force on social media, surpassing even traditional politicians.
With ten million followers on Twitter, more than the sum of Internet users who follow all the official accounts of Bolsonaro’s clan on the platform, 31-year-old Rio de Janeiro’s Felipe Neto describes himself as “proudly hated by lovers of Biroliro,” as he refers to the president.
Owner of the second-largest YouTube channel in the world, with 34 million subscribers, Felipe Neto has already argued on the network with city councilor Carlos Bolsonaro, the president’s son “#2”.
The Planalto Palace monitors the profiles of oppositionists. The reaction, most of the time, is Carlos and Deputy Eduardo’s (PSL-SP), the president’s son “#3″. Bolsonaro is directed to rebut only political leaders.
The virtual platform is a strategic territory for the Planalto. Bolsonaro himself always says the campaign in the networks was decisive for his victory in 2018. At the time, he overthrew the ” dogmas” of electoral marketing. The president and his supporters maintain the communication offensive through these media, but they are increasingly challenged by “outsiders” of politics.
Influential oppositionists interact on Twitter. Felipe Neto has his posts highly retweeted by Paola Carosella, 47, a TV presenter. Paola spares no criticism of Bolsonaro’s supporters, such as businessman Luciano Hang and philosopher Olavo de Carvalho.
Last week, Felipe Neto commented on Twitter on the operation by the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the involvement of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in a “splitting” kickback scheme – in which officials return part of their salaries to deputies – in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro.
“Flávio Bolsonaro’s situation is one of absolute terror. As a result of what’s going on behind the scenes, he’s completely deadlocked. And that makes me, at this moment, quite afraid. I don’t know how far father Bolsonaro will be able to go to protect his criminal son,” wrote the YouTuber. By Monday 23rd, the post had 47,700 likes and had been retweeted by 4,300 people.
Exponents of the “new policy”, Deputies Tabata Amaral and Felipe Rigoni, did not comment on Twitter.
The Workers’ Party (PT) leader, Paulo Pimenta even posted messages about Fabrício Queiroz, Flavio’s former advisor. The one that was most successful, however, got 3,700 likes, 12.5 times less than Felipe Neto’s post.
The Bolsonarist strategy of labeling critics as “communist” and “leftist” has no effect on the new generation of opponents. This is shown in a survey by the consultancy Bites, which, at the request of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, analyzed 134 million tweets involving the president this year and mapped groups of celebrities with no political connections.
These are people who do not hold public posts or party affiliations but cause more impact on the Bolsonarist network than renowned politicians.
Relevance
“In the campaign, the president chose the social networks arena as his field of debate and spoke virtually on his own. But this arena was not and is not exclusive to him,” André Eler, Bites’ manager of Institutional Relations, said. “If there are not enough relevant political actors to threaten him, there are relevant personalities who can shadow him.”
According to Felipe Nunes, a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and co-founder of Quaest, in a polarizing scenario, these personalities have the role of breaking up uniform structures to support candidates.
“These personalities’ bubbles are varied. It is possible to see Bolsonarist or leftist supporters alongside a certain actor or singer. When this personality talks about politics, the bubble bursts.”
When US President Donald Trump announced that he intended to reinstate Brazil’s steel tariffs, Marcelo D2, with one million Twitter followers, mocked. “Weren’t you friends with Bozo?”
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