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🐦 How Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover impacts Brazil (or not)

Apr 26, 2022 8:53 8 min read (Updated: Apr 26, 2022 12:23)

Good morning! Today, we try to unpack how Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter will affect the Brazilian election. Findings brought by new polls. And the latest chapter of Jair Bolsonaro’s feud with the Supreme Court.

Brazilian government celebrates Musk’s Twitter takeover

twitter elon musk
Elon Musk, with more than 83 million followers on Twitter, has said he wants to “transform” the platform by taking it private. Photo: Tada Images/Shutterstock

It took Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry almost 24 hours to...

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roe v wade abortion
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Bolsonaro official signed amicus brief against Roe v. Wade

An official in the Brazilian Human Rights Ministry signed a brief that helped the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, in yet more evidence of Bolsonarism's involvement in American culture wars

3 days ago • Cedê Silva
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Sexual harassment complaints within Brazil’s government at over one per day

Most reported victims are female, white, and aged between 20 and 39 years

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What to expect from Brazil’s UN Security Council presidency

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How Bolsonaro tries to pander to truckers

Truckers are both vital to the Brazilian economy and a key support base for Jair Bolsonaro. The president has spared no expense to keep them happy, a challenging task as diesel prices soar

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Power

Black lawmakers ‘go white’ after being elected

Dozens of Brazilian lawmakers self-declared as black before getting elected, which grants them some benefits when financing their campaigns, only to change their status after taking office

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Bolsonaro seeks strong ties with the Middle East

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São Paulo court freezes accounts belonging to Binance liaison to Brazilian banks

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Brasília to become the first Brazilian city with an active 3.5 GHz 5G network

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Prosecutors want Brazilian government to pay compensation for murders in the Amazon

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June Amazon rainforest fires reach a 15-year high

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States ask Brazilians to wear masks again, as cases soar

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CoronaVac vaccines will no longer be produced in Brazil

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Pfizer files for approval of boosters for children aged 5 to 11

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Electoral courts sets campaign spending caps for 2022

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Former Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva to run for House seat

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Bolsonaro promises former Defense Minister as running mate

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New Datafolha polls shows stability in presidential race

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São Paulo electoral court benefits former Bolsonaro minister

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Brazil braces for offshore wind boom

Regulatory advances mean Brazil is getting closer to exploiting its offshore wind potential. But the sector is not currently being developed in line with socio-environmental sustainability, civil society advocates say

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Brazil’s Oi telecom: to the brink of bankruptcy and back

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Bank account ownership grew more in Latin America than in any other global region

Brazil experienced double-digit bank account ownership growth since 2017. Global Findex, a World Bank report produced with Gallup every three years, surveyed over 125,000 adults in 123 economies

5 days ago • Fabiane Ziolla Menezes
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Petrobras board greenlights new CEO appointment

Petrobras workers who own shares of the company do not like the nomination and have filed a complaint with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission

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Tech roundup: iFood’s post-boom pivot

Brazil's massive food delivery app has cut hirings and is shifting focus after the pandemic-led delivery boom

16 hours ago • Ana Ferraz
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Tech

Tech Roundup: Government fails to set an example on data protection

The Brazilian government has been lackadaisical in adopting data protection protocols in government agencies

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Tech

Latin American research is in Google and Microsoft servers. That is a problem

With the pandemic, education institutions moved online en masse and started using ostensibly free systems provided by big tech companies. But not enough questions are being asked about data protection

1 month ago • Amanda Audi
access to information law
Tech

Tech Roundup: Ten years of the Access to Information Law

Experts warn that Bolsonaro is chipping away and the effectiveness of the Access to Information Law, a crucial piece of Brazil's transparency structure

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supreme court big tech data
Tech

Supreme Court to rule on its access to social media data

A long-running case on how Brazilian authorities can access data held by Big Tech firms is due to be tried in the Supreme Court. At stake is the celerity of Brazilian investigations into digital crimes

2 months ago • Amanda Audi
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Explaining Brazil #204: A second swing at Bolsonaro

The opposition failed to remove Bolsonaro from office with last year's Covid hearings. They want a new congressional investigation to hurt him at the ballot box

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3 weeks ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
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Explaining Brazil #201: Is the Monroe doctrine dead?

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4 weeks ago • Caroline Coutinho
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Explaining Brazil #200: Hunger haunts Brazil again

Brazil thought the economic growth of the 2000s had rid the country of hunger. But this ghost of the past has returned to haunt the country

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Data corroborates fears about growing lawlessness in the Brazilian Amazon

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Far-right netizens are pushing online content about the legend of a long-lost Amazon civilization as a way of drowning out news of the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, which have reflected negatively on the Bolsonaro government

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Exclusive: Brazilian government ignored warnings about “imminent dangers” at Vale do Javari

Journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira went missing ten days ago in the Vale do Javari reserve. The government was warned about the lawlessness in the region at least four times

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Confusion over Amazon disappearances as Brazilian diplomacy relays misinformation

Members of the Brazilian Embassy in London wrongfully told relatives of British journalist Dom Phillips that authorities had found his body and that of indigenous expert Bruno Pereira

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The Belo Monte Dam is killing the Amazon’s ‘house of God’

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The tensions within the Amazon’s Vale do Javari reserve

A journalist and an on-leave government official have disappeared in a massive reserve coveted by wildcat miners, illegal fishermen, and drug gangs

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The Andes are melting, and what are we doing about it?

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Colombia “really close” to protecting one-third of its marine zones

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Nicaragua becomes a proxy battleground for Russia-U.S. tensions

The renewal of a decree allowing Russian — and American — armed forces to conduct exercises on Nicaraguan soil has drawn a harsh response from the White House, and more sanctions

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Latin America

Mexico’s AMLO willing to sue U.S. company over limestone extraction

Vulcan Materials has been operating in the eastern state of Quintana Roo for decades, but AMLO complains that its mining activities are leading to an "ecological disaster" in the famous tourist region

1 week ago • Lucas Berti
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Bolsonaro’s desperation presents a major risk for Brazilian democratic safeguards

Trailing in the polls, Jair Bolsonaro is sparing no expense — quite literally — in his re-election bid. His maneuvers are damaging to Brazilian representative institutions and democratic accountability

4 days ago • Beatriz Rey
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Latest scandal forces Bolsonaro into unfamiliar territory

The president was hoping to use corruption as kryptonite against former President Lula. But he may be throwing stones in a glass house

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How BRICS can boost cooperation in renewable energy

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2 weeks ago • Renata Albuquerque Ribeiro and Adriana Abdenur
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Coup or no coup, the damage to Brazil is done

The U.S hearings into the January 6 Capitol riot have offered Brazil a window of opportunity to address its own democratic risks with the 2022 election approaching. Whether it will heed the warnings or not is another matter

2 weeks ago • Filipe Campante
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Thirty years after Rio-92, Brazil loses environmental protagonism

Rio-92 propelled Brazil to the forefront of the global environmental agenda. But the country has lost its clout due to recent mismanagement

4 weeks ago • Andre Pagliarini
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War in Ukraine slowing down long-awaited recovery of Brazil’s travel industry

High oil prices, a still-unfavorable exchange rate, and inflation that bites into consumers’ discretionary spending mean the sector still faces a hard post-Covid road ahead

3 months ago • Ana Ferraz
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Tourism

Brazil is an emerging gay tourism hotspot, but the government doesn’t want to know

Actions to promote gay tourism in the country have been actively ignored since Jair Bolsonaro came to power, despite Brazil having some of the world's best LGBTQ+-friendly spots

4 months ago • Amanda Audi
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Petrópolis disaster leaves a scar on Brazil’s historical landmarks

With hundreds dead and much physical destruction, evidence emerges of authorities’ negligence in preparing prevention and mitigation strategies

5 months ago • Renato Alves and Ana Ferraz
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Tourism

Idyllic canyon region tries to keep tourism alive after deadly disaster

A deadly cliff collapse in Capitólio has left tourists scared to return, and locals afraid they will lose their revenue

5 months ago • Renato Alves
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While Brazil dithers on vaccine requirements, flights keep arriving

The government has clashed against regulators over vaccine mandates. Meanwhile, dozens of flights arrived in Brazil from Omicron hotbeds

6 months ago • Janaína Camelo
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Guide to Brazil

Brazil creates a visa for foreign “digital nomads”

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5 months ago • Iure Pontes Vieira
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October 12: a celebration of Brazil’s patron saint

According to legend, fishermen were inundated with fish to catch soon after finding an image of a black Virgin Mary. Since then, Our Lady of Aparecida has become Brazil's most popular and important saints

9 months ago • Euan Marshall
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The story of Christ the Redeemer, 90 years old

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9 months ago • Renato Alves
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The lesser-known story of the Brazilian Inquisition

After terrorizing much of Spain and Portugal, the inquisition spread to many of these countries' colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas — including to Brazil

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Paulo Mendes da Rocha leaves behind incomparable legacy in Brazilian architecture

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