Dissidências na base bolsonarista no Facebook: sentidos de embates no grupo Bolsonaro - Eu apoio e na página SOMOSTODOSBOLSONARO

Abstract

This research analyzes two months of publications and comments from the SOMOSTODOSBOLSONARO page and the Facebook group Bolsonaro – Eu Apoio. Between March 17 and May 17, 2021, 1,240 publications were mapped in the two spaces, which had 1.1 million comments. An initial analysis showed that there were dissidences in the bolsonarista digital base organized on this page and in this group, which became our focus. In this way, when analyzing the publications and, more specifically, the 100 most relevant comments from some of them, we seek to answer the following research problem: what meanings emerge from the dissent in the bolsonarista base organized through Facebook? For this, we structured the research in two theoretical chapters – on political communication, platforms, disinformation, democracy and bolsonarismo – and another two with the details of the method and the inferences, made from the method of Analysis of Construction of Meanings in Digital Networks. Our results indicate that the defections perceived in the bolsonarista base are heterogeneous and, despite indicating the lack of full adherence to the actions of the president and the government, they do not make up the majority of those who publish and comment on the observed page and group. The group of dissidents includes, in particular, extreme right-wing radicals unhappy with an alleged “weighting” of Bolsonaro, unhappy mainly with the economic crisis and the treatment of the pandemic and infiltrators, possibly voters identified with the left, but who publish and comment in groups. and Bolsonarist pages.