Photo: picture-alliance/dpa
Bolsonarista network boosted the ultra-right in the elections in Portugal
by Vicente Nunes
The network of Bolsonarists on digital platforms played an important role in boosting the ultra-right in the Portuguese elections last Sunday (10/03). The engagement of Brazilians gave Chega the best audiences among the videos about the electoral dispute posted on YouTube and guaranteed strong repercussions on X (formerly Twitter).
This is what a survey carried out by João Guilherme dos Santos, director of thematic studies at the Instituto Democracia em Xeque, shows. “There were videos where views exceeded 1 million, which, for Portugal, is huge,” he said.
According to the researcher, Chega, which quadrupled the number of deputies in the Assembly of the Republic, set up a communication structure on social networks very similar to those seen in Brazil, with Jair Bolsonaro, and in the United States, with Donald Trump.
“Everything has a very well thought out strategy. André Ventura's speeches in the Assembly of the Republic are all made so that they can be used on platforms, always with eye-catching titles. And it has yielded results. Chega’s channel had six of the 10 most viewed videos during the elections,” he explains.
For João Guilherme, the far-right party's presence on social media is disproportionate to that of other parties, which still need to delve deeper into the digital world. He says that it was possible to see a certain prominence from Livre, which had four deputies, and from Bloco de Esquerda, with 5, but the distance in relation to Chega is very large.
In the scholar's assessment, Portugal's advantage over Brazil is that there is space for other political forces, especially the Democratic Alliance (AD), which should take over the government, and the Socialist Party (PS), the biggest loser. at the polls, they can structure themselves to compete on equal terms with Chega.
“In Brazil, there is a constellation of far-right channels, including on television, and many influencers. “In Portugal, this doesn’t exist. Therefore, other political forces have space to create their networks and seek greater engagement. The result is not instantaneous, but it can appear”, he emphasizes.
Another important point found in the survey by Instituto Democracia em Xeque was the frequency with which YouTube searches about the elections in Portugal led to posts by Chega and André Ventura. It cannot be said that it was targeted, but it was certainly not pure coincidence.
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