There was a remarkable answer given by Facebook CEO Mr Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year, when he was asked to appear before the UK parliament following the data privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica.
Mr Zuckerberg respectfully thanked the UK politicians for their invite but stated that he would rather focus on the upcoming elections in India and Brazil. He did however appear before US congress and the EU commission to answer questions.
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/34748-New-York-Times-Editorial-Illegally-Promotes-Brazil-Election-Meddling"> New York Times Editorial Illegally Promotes Brazil Election Meddling</a>.
A tough answer for the British to receive but from a data standpoint (and Mr Zuckerberg is the ultimate data miner) a logical one given the sizes of India and Brazil’s respectable economies
Mr Zuckerberg at the time stated: “This is a massive focus for us to make sure we’re dialed in for not only the 2018 elections in the US, but the Indian elections, the Brazilian elections, and a number of other elections that are going on this year that are really important.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Censorship is working in well in Brazil, what do you say <a href="https://twitter.com/facebook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@facebook</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/pJqWWa1qvr">pic.twitter.com/pJqWWa1qvr</a></p>— Bruno Paulo José da Silva (@brunopauloj) <a href="https://twitter.com/brunopauloj/status/1032289926262521856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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“But we can get in front of this, and we have a responsibility to do this not only for the 2018 midterms in the US, which are going to be a huge deal this year, and that’s just a huge focus of us. But there’s a big election in India this year. There’s a big election in Brazil. There are big elections around the world, and you can bet that we are really committed to doing everything that we need to, to make sure that the integrity of those elections on Facebook is secured.”
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/35100-New-York-Times-Editorial-Board-Again-Meddles-In-Brazil-Elections-Now-Slamming-Bolsonaro "> New York Times Editorial Board Again Meddles In Brazil Elections, Now Slamming Bolsonaro</a>.
Knowing that the Brazilian presidency will for the first time be decided not by TV but by internet as the trust of average Brazilians in their media dropped, the Worker’s Party luckily knows that it can count on Silicon Valley behemoth Facebook, with whom it signed a cooperation agreement in 2015 during the Summit of the Americas, where CEO Mr Zuckerberg was pictured at multiple occasions discussing the matter with then President Dilma Rousseff.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dilma Rousseff, with Mark Zuckerberg.She holds the power to allow/block Internet Org in Brazil <a href="http://t.co/TLkSIfKJ5t">http://t.co/TLkSIfKJ5t</a> <a href="http://t.co/jUgUxiMIBC">pic.twitter.com/jUgUxiMIBC</a></p>— Antonio Vieira Santos #LookOutTrends (@akwyz) <a href="https://twitter.com/akwyz/status/600418611207999489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Facebook reaches an audience of some 150 million users in Brazil, which is its second-largest users base after the US. According to the social networking website's head of strategic mobile partnerships and local director Ms Laura Gonzalez-Estefani, Facebook wants to expand into Latin America from Brazil, which has one of the best Internet penetration percentages in the region.
Furthermore, Facebook is not bent on changing its partnership this time round given the time already invested in the relationship with the Workers Party, no matter what the Brazilian voters would want.
As Facebook’s head in the region, Ms Laura Gonzalez-Estefani declared last year in an interview with the Miami-Herald that when it comes to growing your business “you can’t be strangled by regulation.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PRE-ELECTION PURGE: Renan Santos of Free Brazil Movement (MBL) says ‘Facebook’s actions are censorship’ <a href="https://t.co/dak7Iy4j7z">https://t.co/dak7Iy4j7z</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MBLivre?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MBLivre</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Facebook?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Facebook</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Censorship?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Censorship</a></p>— Patrick Henningsen (@21WIRE) <a href="https://twitter.com/21WIRE/status/1024413517254934529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The signs on the wall became clear already in July when the Silicon Valley company started blocking various conservative pages on Facebook Brazil urging youngsters to support Mr Jair Bolsonaro. The timing, in the middle of summer, made sure that the news was reported but didn’t spread very far.
However, anyone now wanting to open a new Facebook page dedicated to Mr Bolsonaro is reminded of Facebook’s ‘general rules’ and blocked soon after, leaving many on his supporters to unite on alternative platforms like Gab and 8chan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mark Zuckerberg from <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24FB&src=ctag&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$FB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/facebook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@facebook</a> meets with Rousseff Brazil's President — <a href="http://t.co/1eA244iXET">http://t.co/1eA244iXET</a> •• <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VemPraRua?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VemPraRua</a> <a href="http://t.co/veEO98NoDw">pic.twitter.com/veEO98NoDw</a></p>— Paulo Sa Elias (@paulosaelias) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulosaelias/status/586938960435355649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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As there is a general consensus with political analysts that Mr Bolsonaro's current statistical advantage in the polls is because the leading popular candidate favoured by the younger generation, Brazilian media is keen on stopping him and bring back Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT), who has been in prison since April on corruption charges.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The impeached president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and Mark Zuckerberg back in 2015. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coincidence?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coincidence</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Censura?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Censura</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Censorship?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Censorship</a> <a href="https://t.co/QWri8aJCjO">pic.twitter.com/QWri8aJCjO</a></p>— Rodrigo N. (@drnakanest) <a href="https://twitter.com/drnakanest/status/1022491623584919553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Obviously Mr Bolsonaro strongly opposes Lula's freedom and candidacy mockingly stating that he favours a free Lula but "in 2030."
Twitter: #OwiButet #QAnon #FelizDomingo #Malazgirt #KAG #MAGA
It used to be that elections were controlled through newspapers and such, these days they can just go to the robot in charge of Faceberg and rig it much easier.
As with all fascist regimes they conspire with others to destroy their opponents. They cannot do their dirty work alone. The machine they create to control the flow, or restrict the flow of information is critical. Hitler destroyed all the free press. Now the free press in on the internet. Zuck will do the same thing in Brazil.