Draft:Hatred cabinet

Hatred Cabinet (Portuguese: Gabinete do Ódio) is the name given to a group of advisors of Jair Bolsonaro that worked in the Palácio do Planalto, coordinated by the former president and his son, Carlos Bolsonaro. The group acted managing the former president's Social media accounts; formed during his campaign in the Brazilian presidential election in 2018, remaining active until his term came to an end.

History

The existence of a "virtual militia", controlling fake social media accounts and spreading fake news aimed to slander adversaries, was initially made public in 2019 by congresswoman Joice Hasselmann, a former ally of Jair Bolsonaro. According to the congresswoman, the group was responsible for spreading en masse fake news related to, amidst other topics, the supposed "gay kit" and the ", linking them to opposing cadidate Fernando Haddad during the 2018 Brazilian elections. That same group, months prior, would be responsible for spreading misinformation about city councilor Marielle Franco, murdered in March of 2018, falsely claiming that she was married to a drug trafficker and a supporter of Comando Vermelho, a criminal organization.

The activities of the "hatred cabinet" was initially reported by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo in September of 2019, and became more notable through the Mixed Parliamentary Investigation Commission for Fake News. Representatives formerly allied with the Bolsonaro administration, such as Alexandre Frota and Heitor Freire, reported the existence of the group, named by its members as "Hatred Cabinet", describing their activities and methods. The main allegations claim the group uses social media and massive information spreading, especially through WhatsApp and Telegram. According to a report from the Federal Police of Brazil: "[it is] a group that produces content and/or posts in social media attacking persons (targets) – the chosen 'scarecrows' – previously elected by the members of the organization, spreading them through multiple communication venues".

The content they spread is comprised of fake news, usage of bots and massive investments in promotion of that misinformation. It is possible that part of the money used in spreading those fake news came from public funds.

Besides former allies of Bolsonaro, the existence of that cabinet is pointed out by the Brazilian Federal Police and Brazilian Supreme Federal Court justices, but Bolsonaro denies it.

Activities

The name, decided on by the group itself, was picked due to its main purpose being the creation and publication of attacks to people and institutions that criticize the Bolsonaro administration.

Methods

According to the Brazilian Federal Police, the group's activities has a well-established activity process, comprised of four steps:

1. Election, where the target person or institution is decided on;
2. Preparation, where the offensive content is produced and tasks are divided internally;
3. Attack, the stage where the content is spread en masse via social media and messaging applications;
4. Reverberation, the stage in which that content is boosted in on-line, with the help of "public authorities and/or traditional communication mediums".

The reverberation stage, according to statements given to the Mixed Parliamentary Investigation Commission, is made through robots. Besides the president's advisors, congressman Alexandre Frota claims the content was spread in the website Terça Livre, run by blogger Allan dos Santos. According to leaked text messages, Allan became involved in the process of fake news dissemination under patronage of businessman Luciano Hang after senator Flávio Bolsonaro intermediated their meeting. The blogger was sentenced by the Supreme Court for dissemination of sladerous content and is currently a fugitive, living in the United States.

DarkMatter

In November 2021, members of the cabinet went on a trip to Dubai as part of the presidential commitive that went to participate of the Dubai AirShow; they met with representatives of DarkMatter, spyware developed to hack into computers and cellphones of targets, even if depowered. The main goal of the acquisition would be usage during the 2022 presidential elections.

Activities during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Parliamentary Investigation Commission organized by the Federal Senate during the COVID-19 pandemic identified 15 people, including Jair Bolsonaro himself, as linked to the Hatred Cabinet. The Commission concluded the group acted to minimize the risks of the health crisis, ignore World Health Organization statements and promote treatments with no scietific basis, such as hydroxychloroquine and other methods of early treatment against COVID-19. The spreading of misinformation during the pandemic is stated to be part of the reason Brazil has such a high death count.

In his statement to the Commission, Luciano Hang denied involvement with the cabinet, but acknowledged he contributed for the spread of content defending the usage of chloroquine to treat COVID-19, which was part of the cabinet's agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic.

See also

• Allan dos Santos
• COVID-19 CPI
• Fake News