Brazilian federal deputy André Janones denied on Sunday, November 1, that he would accept a position heading a ministry in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's fourth term, stating that he will remain in the Chamber of Deputies.
Speaking to the Sunday evening news programme Fantástico on TV Globo, Brazil's largest commercial television network, Janones said he would not accept any ministry and described his decision as final. He stated that he would not serve as a minister in Lula's government and would instead stay in the lower house of Congress representing the people.
Janones represents the southeastern state of Minas Gerais for the Sustainability Network party, known in Brazil as Rede. Speculation that the lawmaker might head a ministry in the re-elected government arose after he created a WhatsApp channel called Exército do Lula, or Lula's Army, which gathered more than 10 million participants after the first round of the elections.
Digital campaign strategy and second round victory
Lula, the leader of Brazil's left-wing Workers' Party, lost the initial first-round vote against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the right-wing Liberal Party, but won the presidency in the second-round runoff.
Janones used the WhatsApp group to issue digital instructions to members in an effort to expand the presence of the political left on social media. The channel took on international dimensions and inspired foreign nations to adopt the same communication strategy.
According to the deputy, the model is both transitional and necessary to win an election. He said the approach was needed to ensure governability for the president from now on, while adding that it should serve only as a transition.
However, Janones said he does not believe the WhatsApp group functions as a full democracy. He explained that the democracy he wants to live in is one where users can post whatever they want on their own networks, but argued that this is not possible right now until society discusses the role of major technology companies, known as big tech.
Accusations against Meta over election engagement
Janones's criticism of the technology giants followed accusations by Lula's campaign that Meta Platforms, the United States parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, interfered in the elections in favour of Flávio Bolsonaro. Campaign officials claimed the company restricted the promotion and delivery of posts from the re-elected president.
At the time, the campaign cited a document produced by the intelligence team of the Workers' Party National Secretariat of Communication. The report stated that Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's page had, on average, 2.96 times more engagement than Lula's page, despite having 17.2% fewer followers.
In a statement, Meta denied interfering in the elections, though it cited technical problems on its platforms. The company's Oversight Board, which reviews content moderation across Meta's services, also assessed that there were recurring failures in the control of electoral content across the social networks managed by the company.
