Overview
- After the Oct. 4 first round, deputy André Janones created the 'Exército do Lula' WhatsApp channel, which quickly grew to about 4.5–4.6 million followers and pushed supporters to like, share and forward pro‑Lula content.
- TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques ordered temporary suspensions of the channel after finding indications of coordination with the Lula campaign, prompting the campaign to register the channel’s address with Electoral Justice and to contest treating it as an official campaign vehicle.
- The PL responded by launching its own 'Tropa do Flávio' WhatsApp channel, gathering roughly 1.8 million followers as party operatives urged a digital countermobilization.
- Independent monitoring showed the left dominated digital debate on key issues such as the 6x1 vote, accounting for about 61% of posts and interactions in a sampled window that produced some 7.8 million interactions, and internal campaign trackings registered a narrowing of the runoff gap.
- The episode highlights two structural strains: WhatsApp’s closed, high‑reach distribution that hampers transparency, and legal ambiguity about when supporter networks become coordinated campaign tools, which will shape TSE enforcement and campaign tactics ahead of the Oct. 25 runoff.