Right-Wing Politicians in Brazil Have More than Twice the Engagement of the Left and Center Combined

Lack of a unified message on Lula's side is cited as one of the reasons

Jul.2.2025 12:19PM

The right dominates social media in Brazil, but how deep does that dominance go?

Data from consultancy Bites, compiled by Folha, offers a clue to the problem facing President Lula’s (PT) administration: the top left-wing politicians combined have less than half the followers of their right-wing counterparts and recorded only one-third of the engagement they achieved this year.

In 2025, posts from right-wing politicians received engagement levels 2.5 times higher than those from left-wing and centrist politicians combined.

According to Bites' technical director, André Eler, one of the main reasons for this disparity is that the right is more organized and aligned on social media. The left, he notes, has more difficulty operating under a unified message.

Folha’s analysis considered the 250 most-followed federal deputies, senators, the president, former presidents, cabinet ministers, first ladies, governors, and mayors of capital cities. Bites collected data from Brazil’s five main social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X, between January 1 and May 30.

For example, the 33 ministers in Lula’s government who have social media accounts together have just slightly more than half the followers that former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has on his own.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2025/07/right-wing-politicians-in-brazil-have-more-than-twice-the-engagement-of-the-left-and-center-combined.shtml