By ERIK CHICONELLI GOMES*
Challenges for the progressive camp in the 2024 elections
Analyzing the intersection between digital disinformation and the strengthening of authoritarian movements around the world reveals a particularly challenging scenario for progressive forces in the contemporary electoral dispute.
The speed with which disinformation spreads on social media has created an environment conducive to mass manipulation and the construction of parallel realities. As Stanley Paxton points out in his seminal work The Anatomy of Fascism, authoritarian movements have historically benefited from the ability to create alternative narratives that challenge the very notion of factual truth.
In the context of São Paulo, this phenomenon was particularly acute during the municipal elections. The candidacy of Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), supported by the PT and other progressive forces, faced not only the traditional political contest, but also a hostile digital ecosystem, marked by systematic disinformation campaigns.
It becomes particularly challenging for the progressive camp to establish effective communication when digital platforms, initially celebrated as instruments for the democratization of information, prioritize content that generates greater emotional engagement, often favoring simplistic and polarizing narratives.
The 2024 mayoral race in São Paulo has highlighted how the progressive camp needs to develop innovative strategies to break through information bubbles. While conservative groups dominate certain digital spaces, such as WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels, the left is looking for ways to expand its reach without resorting to disinformation.
Ruth Wodak, in her analysis in the book The politics of fear [The politics of fear] demonstrates how far-right rhetoric appropriates social anxieties to promote authoritarian agendas. The challenge for candidates like Guilherme Boulos in this municipal campaign was to build narratives that respond to these anxieties with concrete proposals and hope.
The tactics observed in the São Paulo municipal elections highlight how the progressive camp needs to balance combating disinformation with building its own narratives that reach beyond its traditional base. The campaign of Boulos and his allies faced the challenge of communicating complex proposals in an environment that favors simplifications.
The experience of the municipal elections in São Paulo demonstrates the need for the progressive field to develop specific strategies for each digital platform, recognizing their particularities and potential reach.
Digital platforms, with their personalization algorithms, end up creating closed information environments, where users are exposed mainly to content that confirms their preexisting beliefs, as analyzed by Theodor Adorno in Studies on the Authoritarian Personality (Unesp). For progressive candidates, breaking these bubbles becomes a central challenge.
The case of São Paulo is particularly illustrative because Guilherme Boulos' candidacy and the progressive front need not only to present proposals, but also to deconstruct false narratives that circulate massively on social media.
The 2024 municipal elections in São Paulo highlighted how the progressive camp needs to develop communication that is both truthful and engaging, capable of competing with the mobilization power of authoritarian narratives on social media.
As Manuel Castells argues, digital communication structures can be used to both empower and manipulate. The challenge for the progressive camp is to use this empowering potential without falling into the trap of disinformation.
For campaigns like Guilherme Boulos’s, the challenge is twofold: combating misinformation while building effective channels of communication with the population. The experience of the elections in São Paulo demonstrates the need for digital strategies that combine online presence with territorial mobilization.
The analysis suggests that the progressive camp needs to invest in digital training for its grassroots, creating networks of online advocates, and developing content that is both informative and engaging. The 2024 municipal elections will be a crucial test of these strategies.
The progressive campaign in São Paulo has served as a laboratory for new forms of digital political communication. The need to reach voters beyond the progressive bubble has led to experiments with different formats and languages on social media.
The manipulation of public opinion through social media requires a response from the progressive camp that goes beyond simply contradicting false information. It is necessary to build narratives that connect with the concrete experiences of the population.
The scenario observed in the 2024 municipal elections points to the need for the progressive camp to strengthen not only its communication mechanisms, but also its capacity for integrated digital-territorial mobilization.
The success of progressive candidates like Guilherme Boulos in the upcoming elections will depend on the ability to build alternative communication networks that are both reliable and comprehensive. The challenge is to create channels that allow for effective dialogue with different segments of society.
The study of the elections in São Paulo reveals that the progressive camp needs to develop communication strategies that are both efficient in combating misinformation and effective in presenting their proposals for the city.
The evidence presented points to the need for a renewal in the progressive camp's communication strategies, especially in the digital environment. Electoral success may depend on the ability to establish meaningful connections with the electorate through social networks, without giving up the commitment to truth and democracy.
*Erik Chiconelli Gomes is a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Law at USP.
References
Adorno, Theodor W. The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950.
Castells, Manuel. Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Paxton, Robert O. The Anatomy of Fascism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Wodak, Ruth. The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean. London: Sage, 2015.
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