On the weekend of Aug 25th and 26th the first case of public opinion manipulation of these elections was published. Evidence seems to show that PT campaigns paid influencers to publish opinions and share content defined by the party. The network first invited users to “discuss matters regarding the left party”, but is was a scheme specially designed to promote themes of that party’s campaign, as a paid advertising which is considered an election-related felony.
>> See more about the Follow / Lajoy case and follow the next steps of the story
It is our duty at Action Labs to contribute to this debate as communication professionals, specialists in digital products, social media and creators of Mobnex, which is a platform that has been used in campaigns throughout the country. And cannot express anything different from repudiation and a hopeful expectation that such bad actions will be punished.
While platforms such as Mobnex are communication accelerators among citizend and can be useful tools for campaigns, schemes such as FollowNow, by Lajoy, are the old well-known corrupted model – which uses citizens’ needs so that it can buy their loyalty. Instead of offering proposals and solutions, and then conquer people’s hearts so that they defend their ideas, these politicians offer influencers money for them to spread their messages, simulating a spontaneous popular initiative. This is not only illegal, but it is also unethical and undemocratic.
For this kind of politician – and “political professionals” - poverty and ignorance are field of the game. This type of public men benefit from unemployment, crisis and the perpetuation of human poverty. After all, the influencers who accepted this kind of “business” are nothing more than people with free time and financial needs. They are no different from the victims of the old Brazilian colonelism.
We created the platform called Mobnex based on democratic principle for the mobilization of great campaigns and we reject any form of irregular propaganda scheme, sale of opinions and vote buying. We had the privilege of discussing mobilization strategies with the President Obama’s team and also of studying the concepts which moved the Arab Spring. And these experiences reaffirm our deep belief in democracy – not only in times of elections, but as an interaction dynamics between citizens and public men. We created a type of platform that reduces communication noise between the political class and society and, differently from bad schemes such as the aforementioned, we privilege the truth over manipulated facts.
Our goal is to allow the common citizen to participate in the political life more intensely. When we achieve this goal, what happens is that the rehearsed speech of hired parties and professional politicians is overcome by the multiplicity of opinions of politically active citizens. Citizens who produce wealth by means of their work, teach in schools, take care of their families, create innovative businesses. Our platform gives everyone the opportunity of getting politically involved. Because we believe that what needs to change is the relationship between politicians and citizens, no matter what ideas this or that candidate has.
Some politicians have already understood this change. We could see that in several of the Mobnex campaigns and this gives us a lot of hope.
But some others are still far from comprehending the magnitude of these transformations and they insist in the ignorance politics. This makes us sad and angry. But we firmly believe that this is a path that can only go ahead. And we hope justice is served (not only with regards to elections).
Action Labs/Mobnex team
>> See more about the Follow / Lajoy case and follow the next steps of the story
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