Against vaccine, Bolsonaro son reactivates ‘Office of Hate’

Few politicians — if any — in Brazil have mastered the language of social media political communication as well as Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected president in 2018 after leading an almost exclusively digital campaign. One of his biggest assets in the war of narratives online is known to Brazilians as the “Office of Hate,” a shady group previously operating within the president’s office with the sole aim of firehosing the news with an array of attacks against any adversaries, journalists, cultural figures, and companies who are not aligned with the government.

The Office of Hate has been less strident over the past few months, especially after two events which put the First Family on their heels: the arrest of Fabrício Queiroz — a long-time friend of Mr. Bolsonaro’s, accused of running a money-laundering scheme with the president’s eldest son — and a Supreme Court probe into illegal fake news networks operating on behalf of politicians.

Now, as Jair Bolsonaro positions himself as Brazil’s anti-vaxxer-in-chief, the Office of Hate is once again showing its claws.

Sources within the presidential palace have told The Brazilian Report that Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Carlos Bolsonaro has pumped the gears of his online vitriol machine. 

Carlos — or “02,” as he is referred to...