Brazilian Company Accused of Helping Bolsonaro's Campaign

Entrepreneur Lindolfo Antônio Alves Neto, partner and co-owner of the internet marketing company Yacows, admitted that his company participated in Jair Bolsonaro's campaign strategies to advertise on WhatsApp.

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 The executive made these statements at the Fake News Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Committee in the Brazilian Senate on Wednesday, after an interrogation by deputy Rui Falcão. Alves Neto stated that the package bought by AM$, the advertising agency that managed the Brazilian president's campaign, had a cost of $1,680. 

The main accusation against the Company relies on the use of “WhatsApp shoots”, a series of messages with fake contents or not legal ones; to manipulate the public opinion on behalf of the former presidential candidate, now Brazil´s mandatary. Alves Neto declared that “(Bolsonaro) hired them to send 20,000 messages, but he only used 900”. The national newspaper Folha de S. Paulo denounced these actions.

 
Avoiding the responsibility for these accusations, the executive said that he is responsible for the information spreading but not for the content.  Also, the information was analyzed to see if the content of those “shoots” could be qualified as propaganda in favor of a candidate or against another one using lies or defamation. 

This is not the first time that the information and social networks manipulation were used by Bolsonaro´s campaign. The mandatary has been also questioned for his cyber troops use, images distortion, trolls, and bots use before his presidency.