The final presidential debate before the first round of the 2022 election gave Globo, Brazil’s leading television network, the highest ratings in four electoral cycles – reaching an average of over 17 million simultaneous viewers. It was no small feat, especially considering that the program was broadcast between 10:30 pm and 2 am on a Thursday night.
And while many viewers didn’t hang around for the entirety of the show, snippets of the debate – carefully edited by campaigns either to boost their candidates or hurt an adversary – flooded social media.
An exclusive survey by the media monitoring company NewsWhip, carried out at the request of The Brazilian Report, shows, however, that the issues that most engaged Internet users had little to do with the candidates’ proposals.
NewsWhip selected the 100 articles on the debate receiving the most engagement (comments, likes and shares on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) and set them alongside the topics discussed in the debate and candidates’ names.
The most relevant topic was actually a controversial event that took place 20 years ago. Throughout the day, websites notorious for sharing false content favorable to President Jair Bolsonaro pointed out what would be the “silver bullet” with which he would attack his opponent, former President Lula – whom...
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