In Brazil's deeply polarized 2022 election, the digital battlefield was as crucial as any rally. While his opponent had long mastered it, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign transformed WhatsApp from a weakness into a decisive weapon.
Fighting Fire with Fire
For years, Brazil's
political right, led by Jair Bolsonaro, had dominated the digital landscape, particularly WhatsApp. Their 2018 election victory was largely credited to a sophisticated network of groups that spread their message and attacked opponents with viral efficiency. In 2022, facing a runoff after an unexpectedly poor first-round result, Lula's campaign knew it couldn't win without confronting this digital disadvantage. The old strategy of television ads and traditional rallies was no longer enough. The campaign realised it had to learn from the opposition and build its own digital army. This marked a significant shift for a campaign that had been criticized as lackluster and disconnected from the very online spaces where the election was being fiercely contested.
The Rise of 'Lula's Army'
The turning point was the emergence of 'Exército do Lula' or 'Lula's Army', a massive WhatsApp channel spearheaded by Congressman André Janones. Janones, a savvy social media operator who had previously dropped his own presidential bid to endorse Lula, adopted the aggressive and urgent communication style of his political opponents. The channel was not a traditional, top-down campaign tool. Instead, it functioned as a virtual command center for a grassroots movement. After Lula's first-round loss, the channel's subscriber count exploded from around 60,000 to nearly 11 million by the election. On the day of his victory, Lula himself publicly praised Janones, calling him 'our general' for his role in mobilizing supporters.
Gamifying Political Activism
The strategy of 'Lula's Army' was simple yet effective: electoral gamification. Janones would issue daily 'missions' to his followers, whom he called 'soldiers'. These tasks were straightforward: share specific videos, promote hashtags on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, give 'likes' to pro-Lula content, and recruit friends to the channel. The goal was to flood social networks, burst the left's informational bubble, and reach undecided voters. This approach gave millions of supporters a tangible sense of purpose and a direct way to contribute to the campaign, transforming passive followers into active digital campaigners. The relentless stream of messages, often in all caps and with a sense of urgency, created a feeling of community and collective action.
Content, Coordination, and Controversy
The content shared within 'Lula's Army' was designed for maximum algorithmic impact. Ready-made videos, memes, and simple, urgent directives were distributed for followers to share across their personal networks. A key rule was to avoid engaging directly with opponents' posts, as that would only increase their visibility. The strategy also involved reacting swiftly to events. When Bolsonaro mocked Lula for a missing finger lost in a factory accident, the network quickly promoted the hashtag #SomosTodos9Dedos ('We Are All Nine Fingers'), turning an attack into a symbol of solidarity with the working class. This new-found digital agility even extended to the candidate himself. Lula, then in his late 70s, began recording selfie-style videos for the first time, one of which reportedly gained over 23 million views in 24 hours. However, the aggressive tactics were not without controversy, as Janones was known for using negative campaigning and what some analysts called 'content of questionable origin'. At one point, Bolsonaro's campaign successfully petitioned the electoral court to suspend the channel, though the decision was later overturned.
