The 2018 elections highlighted the importance of private messaging apps for political communication in the country. Work carried out by civil society and academia in the country has pointed to the fact that the Brazilian media’s diet of political information relies heavily on this type of service. Various social, political and psychological resources are taken into account by political actors in their efforts to disseminate electoral content, including the use of different levels of propaganda tools, such as mass messaging or online marketing services, which raises significant ethical and legal issues.

This project seeks to understand the different dynamics of political communication and propaganda on private messaging apps. From the perspective of candidates, parties and digital mobilizers, the project seeks to identify the different tactics and strategies used by political campaigns on messaging apps. On the other hand, seeking to fill a gap in the understanding of the role of the user in the dynamics of political communication, this project also aims to map the habits and perceptions of Brazilians regarding political-electoral content, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, which together contribute to the configuration of specific dynamics of political communication in this space.

In 2021, as part of this project, InternetLab in partnership with the Rede Conhecimento Social launched the report “The Vectors of Political Communication in Messaging Applications: Brazilian habits and perceptions”, which sought to focus on the user’s perspective, with the aim of shedding light on their place in the dynamics of political communication. The result of multi-method research – with focus groups to collect qualitative data combined with a sample survey – the report provides quantitative and qualitative data on how users relate to political-electoral content and conversations on these apps.There have already been four editions released, and in 2025, the fifth edition of the report will be published.

Publications:

• Research reveals that personal habits and chat groups’ internal rules drive political communication on WhatsApp
• Consumption of information in messaging apps is made in relation to other media, new research points out
• In a context of mistrust, individual confidence in both the sender and the retransmitter plays a central role in the consumption of political information, new research finds (portuguese version)
• A new edition of the study offers insights into political communication through messaging apps in the period leading up to municipal elections (portuguese version)