RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In less than a week, the Brazilian version of Sleeping Giants, a movement exposing companies that finance far-right and fake news websites through advertisements, has rattled social media by alerting companies about the propaganda in unreliable channels, and has even triggered reactions among the upper echelons of Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
Upset by the twitter profile’s performance, which has already persuaded more than 30 brands and companies to remove ads in Google’s media program system from the ‘Online Jornal da Cidade’ website, known for spreading fake news, the President’s supporters have launched a counter-attack to prevent other ultraconservative websites from being affected by the flight of advertisers.
The first to publicly react was Rio de Janeiro assemblyman Carlos Bolsonaro, the President’s son, who complained about the Bank of Brazil’s decision to cancel ads on Jornal da Cidade Online. In tune, the Planalto’s Communication Secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, said he would work around the situation by favoring “independent media outlets”.
Following the protests, the state-owned bank’s marketing department, managed by Antonio Hamilton Rossell Mourão, son of Vice President Hamilton Mourão, removed the website’s ads restriction. “Sleeping Giants urgently needs to abandon its ideological slant when it comes to making its purported accusations,” Wajngarten posted on his Twitter account.
On Thursday, the Federal Prosecutor’s Citizen’s Rights Department called for an investigation into spending on advertising campaigns run by the portfolio headed by Wajngarten. The body emphasized the presidential Communications Office’s selection of media outlets for advertising, based on ideological affinity; additionally, it accused the SECOM (Communications Secretariat ) of directing funds to websites aligned with Bolsonaro and censoring media critical of the Government.
Prosecutors also demand a review of charges of administrative misconduct contained in a lawsuit against Wajngarten. He is accused of favoring TV stations that hold contracts with his own marketing agency by directing SECOM funds.
Federal deputies Felipe Rigoni (PSB-ES) and Tabata Amaral (PDT-SP), in a petition filed with the Prosecutor Genera’s Office, requested that the Secretary to be investigated for failing to comply with the principle of impartiality by his pledging to interfere in a Bank of Brazil decision.
In line with his brother Carlos, federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro was yet another influential figure to complain about Sleeping Giants’ activities in Brazil. On his YouTube channel, the President’s son voiced concern over what he described as “the left-wing’s latest strategy to destroy conservative blogs.”
According to him, the campaign is “virtual militia” and “a pre-ordained ideological patrol”, and he urged the business community not to “bend to political correctness”. The deputy seized the opportunity to disclose two profiles created on Twitter to counter Sleeping Giants (one of them, however, has already been removed for violating the platform’s rules).
In an attempt to reverse the campaign launched to dry up the main source of income for fake news and far-right websites, Bolsonaro’s supporters are calling for a boycott of companies that have banned placing their ads in the Jornal da Cidade Online.
The hashtag #NaoCompreDell (#DoNotBuyDell) featured among Twitter’s most talked-about topics after the computer company removed its ads from the website. In an editorial, the page claims to be a victim of censorship and defends itself by publishing more distorted material, in which it states, without providing any statistical evidence, that advertisers who blocked ads on the website would be “massively” losing customers, based on users’ posts on Twitter.
One of the government’s most ardent supporters, federal Deputy Carla Zambelli, also criticized Dell for giving in to “pressure from an anonymous left-wing profile,” something she described as “a gesture of contempt for the conservative majority of the Brazilian population”.
In April, Workers’ Party (PT) deputies signed a petition charging Zambelli with slander, after the deputy claimed in an interview, without any evidence, that caskets were being buried empty in Ceará state. The state government released a note of repudiation and announced that it would take “appropriate judicial measures” concerning the Deputy’s statement.
Repercussion impresses movement’s creators
While the Government and its followers are displeased, Sleeping Giants Brasil is celebrated by personalities such as actress Patricia Pillar, host Luciano Huck, and Youtuber Felipe Neto, who have expressed their support for the movement.
The founders of the initiative in the United States celebrate the huge success of the Brazilian branch, which in five days has passed the mark of 200,000 followers and is now close to reaching the numbers of the original site, in English.
“The profile produced a massive movement throughout Brazil, commented on by everyone, from the country’s leading Youtuber to its President’s sons; it had major advertisers stop supporting a website that spreads fake news, and will soon be much bigger than our humble little account,” published the North American headquarters, founded in 2016 and now with 270,000 followers.
In addition to companies, individuals such as freelance professionals and lecturers have also been alerted by the profile on programmed media ads displayed on far-right and fake news websites. One of them is economist and entrepreneur Eduardo Moreira, who reviewed Google’s online advertising system filters after being advised that his banner was featured in Jornal da Cidade Online.
“Alerted by followers about my free finance classes being advertised on a fake news website, I immediately asked the team coordinating the ads to act. We blocked this and several other websites,” said Moreira.
Among the dozens of companies that met Sleeping Giants’ requests, multinationals like McDonald’s and Philips stand out. According to compliance rules, companies with shares traded in the Stock Exchange must take measures to protect their brand’s reputation, something considered by the movement’s pioneers when approaching companies to alert them about their association, through digital advertising, with fake news and misinformation websites.
These alerts have already yielded unprecedented situations, as in the case of Nubank, which, when asked about an ad, found that the advertisement was not part of its official campaigns; in fact, it was a scam to attract users with fake facilities in credit card approval.
EL PAÍS found ads from companies such as Mastercard and Drogaria São Paulo – suspended after contacts from the report- on YouTube channels linked to the far-right and with a history of publishing fake news.
According to the administrator of Sleeping Giants Brasil, who remains anonymous, there are more than 100 websites and channels being monitored because of fake news funded by programmed media revenues. However, the profile’s strategy is to focus on massive exposure of one media outlet at a time until it is completely demonetized.
A supporter of the Bolsonarist agenda and repeatedly denounced by verification agencies for spreading fake news, the Jornal da Cidade Online emptied its spaces reserved for ads directed by Google in an attempt to contain the damage, and also lost the fixed banner of the Mato Grosso do Sul State Audit Court (TCE-MS), which ordered the removal of its ads amid the turmoil triggered by the emergence of Sleeping Giants in Brazil.
Source: El País