‘Lulaverso’: Brazil's Workers' Party Embraces Social Media

Brazil's historic Workers' Party (PT), founded in 1980 amidst labor strikes against the military dictatorship, has recognized the paramount importance of digital presence for political influence and voter mobilization. The party is now actively leveraging social media, with its 'Lulaverso' Instagram account serving as a key digital battleground for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's re-election campaign.

The 'Lulaverso' account boasts over a million followers and employs a pop aesthetic, even depicting Lula as a digital avatar. It provides practical guidance, such as how to use electronic voting machines, announces public campaign events, and generates content for supporters to share on their own social networks. This is facilitated by the website 'Pode Espalhar' ('You Can Spread'), a mobilization hub offering a wide array of audiovisual materials ready for distribution.

Content is categorized into approximately 40 themes, including 'truths with tenderness,' where a baby-filtered Lula discusses government actions, and 'BolsoTrump recorded you,' linking the Bolsonaro family to tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration. This strategy encourages thousands of supporters to participate in TikTok challenges with campaign songs, add the PT's star symbol to their usernames, and share memes of the president created by the party.

The PT's clear objective is to transform every voter into an active communication node by decentralizing official propaganda and encouraging organic message circulation. This approach merges traditional stump speeches with the dynamic visual language of digital platforms. The party's website even allows individuals to volunteer not just for traditional tasks like distributing flyers, but also for creating and editing videos or designing social media content.

Social media has evolved from secondary channels to central arenas where political organizations vie for narrative control. A survey by the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society revealed that digital platforms are now the primary means of information access for Brazilians, surpassing radio and television. A significant 72% of Brazilians over sixteen access information daily through social media, primarily via video content.