Brazil: Election interference and disinformation incidents, 11 April 2025

• Brazil, 25 March 2025 The Brazilian Supreme Court will be deciding if former president Jair Bolsonaro and his associates will be facing trial for attempting to stage a coup. Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet is accusing Bolsonaro of leading a criminal organisation that spread disinformation about Brazil’s voting system. He also accused Bolsonaro of supporting a plot to overturn election results.
  
  Implications: supporters of Bolsonaro on social media believe that since he has not led the country it proves his innocence. Bolsonaro’s opponents on social media are spreading the charges brought against him and stating he is guilty. Both his supporters and rivals are likely to spread misinformationaround the case. This is likely to increase tension between Brazil’s political parties due to the high visibility of the event.
  
  
• Brazil, 18 March 2025 Jair Bolosonaro’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro is attempting to relocate to the US to seek sanctions against Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Eduardo Bolsonaro’s lawyer campaigned within Congress for the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee due to the charges brought against his father. This comes after the Workers’ Party, the ruling party in Brazil and opposition of Bolsonaro, requested to have Eduardo Bolsonaro’s passport seized. Eduardo Bolsonaro is attempting to draw on similarities between the charges his father faces and the charges brought against President Donald Trump following the January 6th capital attack in the US and the 8th January Brasilia attack in Brazil.
  
  Implications: users on social media are accusing Eduardo Bolsonaro of receiving BRL 600 million from the Rouanet Law while his father was president and sending an unspecified amount of that money to a company he owns in the United States, although there is no evidence to support the claim. The Rouanet Law provides financial incentives from the Brazilian government for use in cultural programs focused on art and literature. Supporters of Bolsonaro say Eduardo Bolsonaro is escaping a dictatorship where he is not able to exercise freedom of expression. Disinformation relating to the Bolsonaro family is likely to rise from both his supporters and opponents.
  
  

• Brazil, 13 March 2025 President Donald Trump through his company Trump Media & Technology Group who owns the social media network site Truth Social filed a lawsuit against Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes over banning the Rumble streaming platform. The lawsuit argues that Moraes violated free speech laws in the US. The lawsuit alleges that because Truth Social relies on Rumble’s infrastructure and Rumble is a US based company Moraes cannot dictate the actions Rumble takes in Brazil.
  
  Implications: Brazil’s Supreme Court is likely to continue targeting social media companies perceived to be spreading disinformation or refusing to comply with the courts orders to ban user accounts.

Social engineering awareness

• On 13 March 2025 the Babuk2 ransomware group reportedly targeted the Brazilian state-owned energy company Nuclep and on 19 March 2025 attacked Brazil’s municipal taxation office. The Babuk2 ransomware group is increasingly targeting government organisations in Brazil since 11 March 2025.
• Users of financial and hospitality platforms in Brazil are being targeted with phishing attacks containing malicious files that execute the Coyote banking trojan. Coyote harvests victims’ credentials through keylogging, taking screenshots of the victims' screen, and displaying fake websites for victims to share credentials in.

Disinformation education

• Disinformation on social media platforms, such as X, and Facebook, are likely to continue growing.
• Social media users should verify information shared and interacted with for authenticity.

Social media monitoring

• Users on X have continued to discuss the charges placed on Jair Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo Bolsonaro attempting to re-locate to the US.
• Users on X perceive Justice Morae’s censorship of social media platforms to be a violation of free speech. Supporters of Moraes view his actions as a positive way to combat disinformation in the country.