MonitorA – Observatory of Political Violence
Observatory of political and electoral violence against candidates on social media. The initiative is a partnership between InternetLab, Revista AzMina, and the Núcleo Jornalismo.
Political violence permeates and shapes the Brazilian political landscape, manifesting through actions before, during, and after electoral processes. In this context, several questions arise: How does political violence manifest on social media? What is the role of platforms in combating and mitigating this social phenomenon? How can different social sectors collaborate to ensure electoral integrity? These are some of the questions that guided the creation of MonitorA, an observatory focused on online political violence against candidates running for elected offices.
The project commenced during the 2020 municipal elections, a period when we were navigating a pandemic, and the internet’s significance in campaigns was even more pronounced.
In 2022, the landscape isn’t exactly the same; recognition of this social phenomenon has increased, and we even have the classification of political violence as a crime. However, social and legal recognition do not guarantee that political violence won’t impact this year’s elections.
Thus, we continue to monitor the social media accounts of candidates, seeking to understand how political violence manifests in concrete ways. This year, in addition to the partnership with AzMina Magazine, we also collaborate with theNúcleo Jornalismo, Luminate, and Reset as funding partners.
Methodology
MonitorA employs a qualitative-quantitative methodology involving the selection of candidates from diverse identity backgrounds and political-ideological spectrums, including women and men from various political parties across all regions of Brazil. From this selection, we collect platform data and then apply a filter to terms that can be used offensively. After the filtering process, we conduct human analysis of content that is deemed potentially offensive.
In this year’s elections, during the first round, we are monitoring 175 female candidates and 25 male candidates. MonitorA returns with a focus on understanding how the phenomenon of political violence impacts general elections. The scope of platforms has been updated. In addition to Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube – analyzed in 2020 – we will also analyze data from Facebook. The term dictionary has also been updated to reflect the research findings from 2020 and the current social and political contexts, which have evolved.
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Publications so far:
MonitorA 2022
MonitorA 2022: distinguishing insults from attacks on the content moderation debate
“You’re a shame” and “mimimi”¹: offenses targeting women candidates echo Bolsonaro’s speeches
MonitorA 2020