On October 25, Brazil stunned the world by decisively rejecting the far right and reelecting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a fourth term.
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Brazil → stun → term
Lula, 81, defeated Flávio Bolsonaro—the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of attempting a coup—by a margin of more than 4 million votes.
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who → defeat → votes
He managed to achieve an unprecedented comeback in the runoff of what was considered a critical election not only for the country, but also for the future of the Amazon and the Trump administration’s aspirations in Latin America.
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what → manage → America
In the aftermath of Lula’s win, Flávio refused to concede, declared himself the rightful “president-elect” (later changing it to “leader of Brazil”), and emulated his father by fleeing to the United States with the assistance of President Donald Trump’s aides.
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himself → refuse → aides
Lula’s election put a halt to the wave of right-wing governments sweeping the region.
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election → put → region
In his victory speech, the Workers’ Party leader said his election was a win against “outside interference” from companies like Meta—owner of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp—and vowed to regulate digital platforms.
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election → say → platforms
For David Nemer, an associate professor at the University of Virginia who researches technology and disinformation, Lula’s triumph over Flávio also meant that Brazil broke what he described as the “two-year American curse”—a seesawing cycle of about 10 years during which what happened in US politics was later repeated in Brazil, from the rise of a populist far-right leader to anti-democratic riots and efforts to overturn election results.
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happened → research → results
As we all know, in 2016, Trump won the presidency in the United States.
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Trump → know → States
Then, Joe Biden became president, followed by Lula’s win two years later.
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Biden → become → win
Two years also separated the January 6 insurrection and the January 8, 2023 ransacking of federal of government buildings in Brasilia, the country’s capital, by Bolsonaro supporters.
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years → separate → supporters
Finally, in 2024, Trump was reelected.
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Trump → reelect → 2024
But now, faced with the option to return a member of the Bolsonaro family to the nation’s highest office, the majority of Brazilians said “no.”
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majority → face → Brazilians
I first interviewed Nemer in 2023, in the aftermath of the January 6-like attack in Brazil, which he had seen coming.
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he → interview → Brazil
After Flávio’s defeat, I got back in touch with him to ask about how Lula was able to turn the election around in three weeks, what lessons can be learned from the success of his digital campaign, and whether his victory might indicate anything regarding the midterms.
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victory → get → midterms
The 2026 Brazilian presidential elections were marked by questions around interference from the United States and claims of political bias by big tech.
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elections → mark → tech
Lula’s campaign complained that Meta used algorithms to suppress his content while boosting that of his opponent, prompting the Brazilian electoral court to order the company to ensure both candidates received equal treatment on its platforms.
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candidates → complain → platforms
What is your assessment of the role that Meta allegedly played in the elections?
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Meta → play → elections
Meta deliberately acted in Brazil’s elections.
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Meta → act → elections
Lula’s content was not going viral.
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content → go → ?
It did not have the same treatment by the algorithm as content shared by the right.
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It → have → right
People were going to Meta AI, and they were not able to produce any images with Lula’s name on them, but they were able to do it with Flávio’s.
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they → go → Flávio
Meta recognized the issue and fixed the glitch.
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Meta → recognize → glitch
It was also more expensive for Lula’s campaign to publish their ads on Meta’s platforms than for Flávio Bolsonaro.
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campaign → publish → Bolsonaro
[The company has denied meddling in the election.
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company → deny → election
]
While they called them “technical” failures, it’s hard to believe them when there’s no way to verify that those failures were actually just technical—and the fact that all the failures benefited one candidate only, Flávio Bolsonaro.
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failures → call → candidate
At the same time, one of the main factors behind Lula turning the tide and winning the runoff was actually WhatsApp, which is a platform owned by Meta.
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which → turn → Meta
WhatsApp is on 98 percent of phones in Brazil; it’s the main means of communication.
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it → ’ → communication
Initially, the race looked neck and neck, and after the first round of voting on October 4, Flávio Bolsonaro appeared to have a clear advantage.
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Bolsonaro → look → advantage
What were the crucial factors that enabled President Lula’s historic comeback?
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that → enable → comeback
Lula changed his strategy and aligned himself with folks who understood the digital world.
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who → change → world
For example, 21-year-old Ana Elisa Santos—she’s a Black woman who got elected [to Congress] in the state of Minas Gerais.
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who → ’ → Gerais
She was a massive phenomenon, and he got her on his team.
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he → get → team
There were also political wins that helped boost Lula, like the bill that became law ending the six-day workweek.
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that → be → workweek
That was a major win for Lula, and he capitalized a lot on that.
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he → capitalize → that
He also banned online gambling platforms, which was something that people were really concerned about.
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people → ban → that
All these political and digital moves helped him gain momentum.
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moves → help → momentum
He made these moves to occupy the digital world, but there were also several organizers who worked together to occupy the streets.
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who → make → streets
It started with law students in Niterói [in the state of Rio de Janeiro] and the next thing we know, we’re seeing Lula take over Copacabana—known for pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations—and the city of São Paulo’s main avenue.
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Lula → start → Paulo
One thing was building on another and the momentum was created until we saw what we saw in the runoff.
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we → build → runoff
The main person responsible for Lula’s successful strategy online was lawmaker André Janones, the “general” behind a WhatsApp channel that grew to have more than 10 million members.
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that → grow → members
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
