In a country where WhatsApp is an essential daily utility for over 120 million people, the messaging app has become a potent political battleground. This is the story of how supporters of Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva transformed it.
The Rise of 'Lula's Army'
In the world
of Brazilian politics, digital strategy is not just an advantage; it is a necessity. For years, the country's right-wing movements, particularly those aligned with former President Jair Bolsonaro, were seen as the masters of this domain. They effectively used social media and messaging apps to mobilize supporters and spread their message. However, recent events show a significant shift in this dynamic. At the heart of this change was a WhatsApp channel called 'Exército do Lula', or 'Lula's Army'. What started as a modest group of followers exploded into a massive digital mobilization force, credited by many, including Lula himself, as a key factor in his recent election comeback.
A Digital General and His 'Missions'
The architect of this network was Congressman André Janones, a social media-savvy politician who adopted the aggressive and urgent communication style previously dominated by the right. After a disappointing first-round election result for Lula, Janones ramped up his efforts, transforming the channel into a highly organized, if decentralized, campaign machine. The channel, which swelled from around 60,000 to nearly 11 million followers in just three weeks, operated with a clear, military-inspired hierarchy. Janones, acting as the 'general', would issue daily 'missions' to his followers, or 'soldiers'. These tasks were simple and designed for maximum algorithmic impact: share specific videos, push hashtags to trend on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), and even coordinate Google searches to boost negative stories about opponents. The communication was direct, often in all caps, creating a sense of urgency and collective purpose.
Why WhatsApp is Brazil's Political Battleground
To understand the power of 'Lula's Army', one must understand the role of WhatsApp in Brazil. The app is not just for casual chats; for a vast portion of the population, it's a primary source of news and information, partly due to telecom plans that often don't charge for WhatsApp data. This makes it an incredibly powerful tool for reaching voters directly in a space they trust—conversations with friends and family. While this offers a direct line for grassroots organizing, it's also a double-edged sword. The same encrypted, hard-to-track channels that allow for rapid political mobilization are also notoriously effective conduits for the spread of misinformation and disinformation, a problem that has plagued Brazilian elections for years.
Fighting Fire with Fire
The strategy employed by 'Lula's Army' was, in many ways, a direct response to the digital tactics that had been successfully used by their opponents. The left learned to fight fire with fire, co-opting the methods of algorithmic amplification and direct messaging that the right had long mastered. This marked a significant turning point, proving that digital dominance was not exclusive to one side of the political spectrum. The campaign combined this newfound digital urgency with traditional, ontheground mobilization, creating a hybrid strategy that energised supporters and helped increase voter turnout. Lula himself, an oldschool politician who reportedly got his first smartphone late in the campaign, began participating with selfie videos, acknowledging the power of this new frontier.
A New Model for Digital Campaigning?
While analysts caution that it's difficult to attribute an election result solely to one factor, the impact of 'Lula's Army' is undeniable. It successfully energized a base, influenced the media narrative, and translated online engagement into realworld action. This phenomenon has now become a case study for political strategists globally, demonstrating how private, encrypted channels can bypass traditional media and centralized campaign structures to build a massive, volunteerdriven political force. In response to the growing influence of such channels from all political sides, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has recently established new rules requiring channels that receive campaign support to be officially registered, attempting to bring a measure of regulation to this wild new landscape.
