Police took too long to control situation, journalist says
A Brazilian journalist has said that the police were initially “very patient” and “not too aggressive” with the protesters in Brasilia before the attack.
Carlos Alexandre de Souza, political editor of the Correio Braziliense newspaper, said officers tried to keep the crowd away from federal government buildings and prevent them from “destroying everything.”
But he told JEE News that police were still working to keep people away from buildings that had been attacked, as many people tried to see the damage. .
“The local police took a lot of time to get the situation under control, and there have been many consequences since then,” D’Souza says.
Spotlight on social media and misinformation
Conspiracies promoting the idea that Brazil’s election was rigged — and that Bolsonaro was the real winner — have been circulating among his supporters online for weeks in the build-up to what happened in Brasilia.
This means the spotlight is once again on social media platforms.
What role did they play? And could they have prevented online misinformation that contributed to the protests?
Twitter in particular finds itself the subject of scrutiny. After Elon Musk took over, the company fired staff, including those in Brazil whose role was to deal with disinformation about the election.
Twitter and Musk have repeatedly said they are cracking down on the most harmful content on the site.
But it’s hard not to draw comparisons to the U.S. capital’s souring on Jan. 6 two years ago — also due to misinformation.
Narratives suggesting vote rigging have spread online and built up over months, fueled by influential political figures. They then encourage hardliners to take action based on evidence-free ideas.
This week, we discussed the legacy that the Capitol riots have left behind in America. The conspiracies that took place that day not only ended but also continued to move beyond America.
