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11/02/2022

Printed vote and electronic voting machine fraud mobilize an average of 888 posts per day on Facebook, shows FGV DAPP

Study analyzed Facebook posts between November 2020 and January 2022

A study by the Department of Public Policy Analysis at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV DAPP) found that printed vote and electronic voting machine fraud mobilized an average of 888 posts per day on Facebook between November 2020 and January 2022. According to the newly released “Online Disinformation and Questioning of Election Results”, there were 394,370 posts about the topic 

The highlights in terms of volume of publications were the municipal elections in 2020 and the discussion regarding the Printed Vote Bill, in August 2021. The peak of mentions happened on August 10, 2021, with 10,619 messages in a single day. November, the election month, was also a highlight with 50,574 posts. 

There were twelve accounts concentrating the highest volume of interactions (each with 1 million or higher) on Facebook posts about electronic voting machine fraud and printed votes, most of which were elected representatives, including President Jair Bolsonaro. Among those with the highest level of influence in the topic, the congresswoman Carla Zambelli discussed the subject the most, with 1,576 publications in 15 months. 

In addition, the study shows that the topic has had a constant volume of publications at least since 2014. The year 2021 stands out due to the number of posts and interactions, which, in some months, surpassed the 2018 electoral year, which has been a reference point in this topic in the recent context. 

This study analyzed the frequency, the actors and the interactions obtained by Facebook posts about fraud in electronic voting machines and printed auditable votes. The research used a database composed of 394,370 publications posted between November 2, 2020 and January 18, 2022. This period covers the voting days for the Brazilian municipal elections in 2020, the entirety of 2021 and the first days of 2022, a presidential race year. See the complete study.

Any opinions expressed by Fundação Getulio Vargas’s staff members, duly identified as such, in articles and interviews published in any media, merely represent the opinions of these individuals and do not necessarily represent the institutional viewpoints or opinions of FGV. FGV Directive Nº 19 / 2018.