CD (Portland) — The attack on Brazil’s main government complex was “directly aided” by major social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram, the global watchdog group SumOfUs reported after an examination of the evidence.

The insurrection, carried out on January 8 by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, “can come as no surprise to social media executives, who were warned time and again that their platforms, tools, and algorithms were directly aiding a violent uprising in Brazil,” said Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director at SumOfUs, a nonprofit which has been monitoring social media in the South American country.

Referencing the similar January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, which was also abetted by social media giants according to studies, Arduini added that “we’ve now seen this happen in two of the world’s major democracies—if governments fail to respond, more will inevitably pay the price.”

In late October, on the eve of Brazil’s presidential runoff, SumOfUs released a report detailing how TikTok and Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—were putting the “integrity of the election on the line through their disastrous recommendation systems.”

“Far-right extremists, who are openly agitating for a military coup, are operating freely on Meta’s platforms, and Meta is not only allowing them to spread their message and recruit new members, but the platform’s algorithms are prioritizing anti-democratic groups, accounts, and posts,” the report found.

SumOfUs estimated that Facebook ads sowing doubt about the Brazilian election and agitating for a military coup accumulated at least 615,000 impressions.

“Despite TikTok’s recent doubling down on election disinformation in wake of an embarrassing expose of the election disinformation epidemic unfolding on its platform,” the October report continued, “this research shows TikTok influencers freely pushing election lies on the platform, racking up hundreds of thousands of views.”

Fears of far-right violence have been high in Brazil since Bolsonaro’s narrow defeat at the hands of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In the wake of Sunday’s attack—for which at least 1,500 people have been arrested thus far—Lula accused Bolsonaro of “encouraging this via social media.”

Meta said yesterday that it has deemed the attack on Brazil’s government buildings a “violating event” and has begun removing “content that supports or praises these actions.”

But critics contend that Meta and other major social media companies previously ignored or brushed off warnings that their platforms were being used as crucial organizing hubs for the insurrection.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that “in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s violent attacks on Brazil’s Congress and other government buildings, the country’s social media channels surged with calls to attack gas stations, refineries, and other infrastructure, as well as for people to come to a ‘war cry party’ in the capital.”

Pointing to SumOfUs’ research, the newspaper also noted that “Facebook and Instagram directed thousands of users who plugged in basic search terms about the election toward groups questioning the integrity of the vote.”

Twitter has also come under criticism, with detractors pointing out that new owner Elon Musk fired most of the company’s staff in Brazil last November, including those who had previously been in charge of content moderation.

In a statement, SumOfUs called for “a rigorous investigation… including into the role of social media platforms in facilitating the attack on Brazilian democracy.”

Originally published at Common Dreams. Republished by cc by-sa 3.0. Edits for style and content.

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