Social media sites have become fantastic entertainment venues for highlighting spectacles. From the comical to the absurd, social platforms offer a circus of real life, featuring the most diverse clowns. Besides amusement, the posts provide lessons related to media and politics.
From feeling frustrated to laughter or despair to grave concerns, social media can be overwhelming. Trying to separate the fake from the real and understand the cultural nuances of public participation is a demanding exercise.
It is interesting to observe how narratives can evolve, shift, or be manipulated in response to different situations. It also reveals the intellectual level of people’s engagement.
Lessons from Brazil are not for the weak, as past events have demonstrated, especially during the second round of the 2022 presidential election and the incidents preceding the inauguration of the new government.
Social media is once again at the heart of an extraordinary development in Brazil. Until days ago, a socially, economically and politically polarised nation witnessed its people from the south to the north arguing with one another over regional differences, political affiliation, the rich versus the poor, the power struggle between the legislative and executive branches, including rival parties already using hate speech and false narratives in anticipation of the 2026 presidential election. Ironically, thanks to Donald Trump, most Brazilians have rallied around national sovereignty.
A letter to President Lula da Silva protesting what he called the "unfair judicial treatment" of Jair Bolsonaro accompanied Donald Trump's social media post announcing a 50-per cent tariff hike on all Brazilian goods.
In the document, Trump linked the hike in tariffs to Brazil's treatment of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup to prevent Lula from taking office in 2023. Trump stated in the letter that the trial ‘should not be taking place’ and that the ‘witch hunt should end immediately’.
He also said the hike was partly because of Brazil's attacks on free elections. Similarly, Trump has condemned Brazil’s pursuit of social media regulations, alleging that Brazil has attacked the ‘fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans’, accusing Brazil’s Supreme Court of unlawfully censoring US media platforms.
Trump’s decision to involve himself and the United States in Brazil’s internal affairs sparked an online discourse centred around ‘national unity”. Under the hashtag ‘Respect Brazil’, Internet users ignited a surge of messages in support of the BRICS group and advocating for the principles of sovereignty.
Following the last day of the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro last week, Trump took to social media, threatening 10 per cent tariffs on allied nations and accusing the group of anti-American actions.
With his move, Trump has given a new inference to tariff policy for political reasons and has escalated the online ideological conflict to new levels.
On social media, ideological warfare is raging between those defending Brazil's national sovereignty and other groups, including democratically elected legislators who support Trump's endorsement of Bolsonaro, tariff rises, and non-regulation or accountability of social platforms.
From Socrates to social media and freedom of expression, there has been a lengthy history of development and evolution. One of the most important aspects is that social media platforms are private companies with their own content moderation policies. This has raised concerns regarding the balance between safeguarding free speech and curbing harmful content.
The complexities of radicalism, partisanship, international trade relations, and social platforms' sophisticated engagement algorithms can lead to potential consequences.
It is no longer about narrative control; we are facing an excess of versions, creating confusion between truth and falsehood and a subsequent erosion of trust in institutions.
It's important to acknowledge that while social media offers positive aspects, it has also become a circus fostering a culture of performativity in which algorithms have a potential role in social processes.
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