Brazilians more curious about “fascism” and “socialism”

Brazilians have never been so curious about the term “fascism.” Since September 28, Google searches about the theme have skyrocketed – and peaked on October 7, the day Brazilians cast their ballots in the first round of presidential elections. On that day, the volume of searches broke all previous records since 2004, when Google started measuring user search history. Since the end of September, the term has grown exponentially – drawing an interest just smaller than the word “socialism,” but peaking higher than “communism,” “nazism,” or “democracy.”

Historically, “democracy” and “socialism” draw more interest than the others, also because Brazilians start studying the basics of these concepts as early as elementary school. Until the October 7 peak, “fascism,” however, was the least googled term of the list. But on election day, Brazilians looked for the concept – and the...