Brazil’s election continued to fuel debate in public WhatsApp and Telegram groups after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected, with Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure for the United States becoming a focal point. The senator left the country despite a travel ban imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, prompting questions online about when the trip was planned and who helped him leave. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the American government had not directly participated.
Donald Trump said on Saturday, October 31, that Flávio could stay in the United States for as long as he wished, while adding that he had no plans to meet him. Washington had not congratulated Lula, according to the report.
Between October 30 and November 1, Lula appeared in nearly 37% of messages mentioning the Bolsonaro surname, data from monitoring firm Palver showed. The company tracks more than 100,000 public WhatsApp and Telegram groups. More than a third of those messages referred to the United States, while Trump appeared in one out of every six. Nearly a quarter discussed Flávio’s departure, and 73% of those messages connected it to the US in some way. The word “escape” appeared more than twice as often as “exile.”
Fraud claims were the main argument in messages supporting Flávio, accounting for 12% of the content reviewed. Among those messages, four in ten focused on extending voting until 7 p.m. and cited a report attributed to a pro-Trump activist. The report falsely claimed Flávio would have won by 5 p.m. Brazil’s electoral court, the TSE, publishes voting data that can be checked on its official website.
Another claim alleged fraud because some polling stations recorded no votes for the senator. The TSE says there were 106 such stations out of nearly 500,000. In pro-Bolsonaro groups, the discussion often framed the result as a case of refusing to accept being cheated. Some messages also described Flávio’s trip as an act of resistance and called him the legitimate president.
Palver’s findings indicate that the issue gained traction in public messaging groups as left-wing activity declined after the election and right-wing discussion concentrated on the topic. Just under 65% of the messages monitored supported the fraud narrative. Messages taking a position outside the right often described Flávio as a fugitive and characterized his departure as shameful.
Comments by other right-wing figures were also cited in arguments that Flávio’s actions did not merit attention. Among those most widely shared were remarks from São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas and pastor Silas Malafaia, who sent a WhatsApp message calling Bolsonaro’s sons “idiots.”
The report noted continued uncertainty over the next steps by the United States and Trump. It said the US congressional elections scheduled for November 3 would offer an indication of the country’s political direction and potential approach to Brazil. Trump had kept his distance from Flávio and had not publicly confirmed Lula’s victory, an ambiguity that, according to the report, sustained hopes among Bolsonaro supporters of a reversal while also leaving room for appeals to national sovereignty.
Sources: Folha Poder.