Political violence permeates and shapes the Brazilian political landscape, manifesting through actions before, during, and after electoral processes. In this context, several questions arise: How does political violence manifest on social media? What is the role of platforms in combating and mitigating this social phenomenon? How can different social sectors collaborate to ensure electoral integrity? These are some of the questions that guided the creation of MonitorA, an observatory focused on online political violence against candidates running for elected offices.

The project commenced during the 2020 municipal elections, a period when we were navigating a pandemic, and the internet’s significance in campaigns was even more pronounced.

In 2022, the landscape isn’t exactly the same; recognition of this social phenomenon has increased, and we even have the classification of political violence as a crime. However, social and legal recognition do not guarantee that political violence won’t impact this year’s elections.

Thus, we continue to monitor the social media accounts of candidates, seeking to understand how political violence manifests in concrete ways. This year, in addition to the partnership with AzMina Magazine, we also collaborate with theNúcleo Jornalismo, Luminate, and Reset as funding partners.

Methodology

MonitorA employs a qualitative-quantitative methodology involving the selection of candidates from diverse identity backgrounds and political-ideological spectrums, including women and men from various political parties across all regions of Brazil. From this selection, we collect platform data and then apply a filter to terms that can be used offensively. After the filtering process, we conduct human analysis of content that is deemed potentially offensive.

In this year’s elections, during the first round, we are monitoring 175 female candidates and 25 male candidates. MonitorA returns with a focus on understanding how the phenomenon of political violence impacts general elections. The scope of platforms has been updated. In addition to Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube – analyzed in 2020 – we will also analyze data from Facebook. The term dictionary has also been updated to reflect the research findings from 2020 and the current social and political contexts, which have evolved.

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Publications so far:

MonitorA 2024:

• In its third edition, MonitorA 2024 analyzes gender-based political violence in the 2024 municipal elections.
• Reports: MonitorA exposes misogyny and transphobia against candidates in the 2024 elections; Women make up 15% of the candidates in the second round but receive 68.2% of the offensive comments during debates.

MonitorA 2022

• MonitorA 2022: distinguishing insults from attacks on the content moderation debate
• Crazy, mad and wacko: misogyny is prevalent among offenses to women candidates in the current elections
• “You’re a shame” and “mimimi”¹: offenses targeting women candidates echo Bolsonaro’s speeches
• Transphobia and violence hijack the debate about transgender and travestis candidates on social media
• “Macumbeira” and “Micheck”: on social media, violence of electoral run also reaches Janja and Michelle

MonitorA 2020

• Project Introduction
• Cláudio Weber Abramo Data Journalism Award
• MonitorA 2020 Report
• Three articles from AzMina Magazine: “‘Fat,’ ‘Dirty,’ ‘Stupid’: Female Candidates Receive Over 40 Insults Per Day on Twitter During Electoral Campaign”; “Attacks on Female Candidates Extend to Supporters in the 2nd Round of Elections”; and “Gender-Based Political Violence: Differences Between Attacks on Women and Their Opponents”.