{"id":120771,"date":"2018-10-29T12:00:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=120771"},"modified":"2018-11-05T11:12:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T11:12:07","slug":"youtubers-will-enter-politics-and-the-ones-who-do-are-probably-going-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/10\/youtubers-will-enter-politics-and-the-ones-who-do-are-probably-going-to-win\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTubers Will Enter Politics, and the Ones Who Do Are Probably Going to Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><em>A group of twentysomethings leveraged their huge YouTube audiences and actually won seats in Brazil&#8217;s federal and state elections. What happens next is anyone&#8217;s guess.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_120772\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120772\" class=\"wp-image-120772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication-1024x704.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication-1024x704.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication-768x528.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/youtube-social-media-communication.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120772\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Zender for BuzzFeed News<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>21 Oct 2018 <\/em>\u2014 Kim Kataguiri is known in Brazil for a lot of things. He\u2019s been called a fascist. He\u2019s been called a fake news kingpin. Is he a YouTuber? He definitely <em>uses<\/em> YouTube. He\u2019s definitely a troll. A troll with a consistent message, though, he points out. Maybe he\u2019s Brazil\u2019s equivalent of Milo Yiannopoulos. His organization, Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL) \u2014 the Free Brazil Movement \u2014 is like the Brazilian Breitbart. Or maybe it\u2019s like the American tea party. Maybe it\u2019s both. Is it a news network? Kataguiri says it isn\u2019t. But it\u2019s not a political party, either. He says MBL is just a bunch of young people who love free market economics and memes.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is very clear: His YouTube channel, the memes, the fake news, and MBL\u2019s army of supporters have helped Kataguiri, 22, become the youngest person ever elected to Congress in Brazil. He\u2019s also trying to become Brazil\u2019s equivalent of speaker of the House.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120773\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Kim-Kataguiri-Free-Brazil-Movement-movimento-brasil-livre.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120773\" class=\"wp-image-120773\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Kim-Kataguiri-Free-Brazil-Movement-movimento-brasil-livre.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Kim-Kataguiri-Free-Brazil-Movement-movimento-brasil-livre.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Kim-Kataguiri-Free-Brazil-Movement-movimento-brasil-livre-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Kim-Kataguiri-Free-Brazil-Movement-movimento-brasil-livre-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kim Kataguiri (center), leader of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), takes part in the March for Freedom in demand of President Dilma Rousseff&#8217;s impeachment in Brasilia, May 27, 2015. Evaristo Sa \/ AFP \/ Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/ryanhatesthis\/meet-jair-bolsonaro-the-evangelical-far-right-anti-gay\" >world panicked<\/a> over whether Brazil\u2019s far-right presidential frontrunner, Jair Bolsonaro, is more of a Trump or a Duterte, MBL pushed forward 16 of its own candidates. Six of them won on the federal level. More at the state and local levels. MBL\u2019s YouTube channel has grown from zero to 1 million subscribers this year. MBL was on the front page of YouTube every day in the month leading up to the election. The plan is to have all of the group\u2019s elected members start their own YouTube channels. Forty percent of MBL\u2019s funding already comes from YouTube ads. MBL-affiliated YouTuber and newly elected state representative Arthur Mam\u00e3e Falei personally made $12,000 off his solo channel in October.<\/p>\n<p>As Mam\u00e3e Falei simply puts it, \u201cI guarantee YouTubers in Brazil are more influential than politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cI guarantee YouTubers in Brazil are more influential than politicians.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sitting in an upstairs smoking room in Murdock Barbershop in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s southern Moema neighborhood, Kataguiri is almost constantly shifting between two personas. With his skinny black suit and the way he strategically downplays MBL\u2019s controversial past, the whole performance feels like a new persona he\u2019s trying out: congressional Kim Kataguiri.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri says he doesn\u2019t agree with all of the outrageous things Bolsonaro says about black people and gay people and women. He claims that even Bolsonaro doesn\u2019t believe his own inflammatory rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>But Kataguiri also disagrees with what he calls the \u201cpolitical correctness\u201d of the left, like the outrage when Kataguiri <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/catracalivre.com.br\/cidadania\/ate-quando-machismo-escancarado-de-pessoas-publicas-reflete-em-toda-a-sociedade\/\" >was attacked<\/a> for comparing feminists to instant ramen: \u201cThey\u2019re ready in three minutes and you only have them in college.\u201d And while he and his MBL colleagues celebrated the support of Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson, Kataguiri says Infowars is too conspiratorial.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri calls the hundreds of memes MBL members are transmitting daily on WhatsApp to their thousands of followers fun commentary \u2014 even if several of their Facebook pages were banned this summer for spreading misinformation. He makes the same claim as his far-right counterparts in the United States: Facebook discriminates against conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri squirms in his seat as he talks. He has a nervous over-laugh that wouldn\u2019t sound out of place on the other end of an Xbox headset. Sitting with him is MBL member and city councillor Fernando Holiday, also 22, in another slick, skinny suit, and Mam\u00e3e Falei, 32, in a T-shirt and jeans. It\u2019s not hyperbolic to say these guys have quietly hacked their way into Brazil\u2019s democratic process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the biggest political network on the internet,\u201d Kataguiri says confidentially.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120774\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120774\" class=\"wp-image-120774\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120774\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL) take part in the March for Freedom in demand of President Dilma Rousseff&#8217;s impeachment in Brasilia, May 27, 2015. Evaristo Sa \/ AFP \/ Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Kataguiri\u2019s political awakening<\/strong> is a textbook example of the way algorithms beget more algorithms. During his last year of high school, his teacher started a debate about welfare programs in Brazil. So Kataguiri started googling. He discovered Ron Paul and the Brazilian libertarian YouTuber <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC-nr9CZ9LglgqMOqSSlzytg\" >Daniel Fraga<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I did a video to my teacher and my friends at school to talk about what I had found out,\u201d Kataguiri says. \u201cThere was one problem: I posted this video on YouTube. So it was public and it went viral.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He says people kept asking for more videos, but he didn\u2019t know anything. So he went back to googling, and then made more videos about what he learned. His channel got bigger. He started connecting with other far-right and libertarian YouTubers. Brazil\u2019s libertarian community started connecting on Facebook. Then, in 2013, Ron Paul visited a conference in Brazil, and suddenly the online community became a real-life one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut then we realized that it was very boring to be libertarian or conservative or anything like that in Brazil. Basically, you go to an event, you wear a bowtie, and then you hear someone talking about economics,\u201d Kataguiri says.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cBut then we realized that it was very boring to be libertarian or conservative or anything like that in Brazil. Basically, you go to an event, you wear a bowtie, and then you hear someone talking about economics.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s when MBL started to form. He says the emphasis on economic theory within the libertarian movement was uninspiring. He wanted to start a group that got young people excited. By 2015, his <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/worldnews\/comments\/30wvj3\/teen_libertarian_is_face_of_brazils_young\/\" >videos<\/a> were starting to draw a huge audience. When Kataguiri was 19, Time named him one of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4081618\/most-influential-teens-2015\/item\/kim-kataguiri\/\" >30 most influential teenagers of 2015<\/a>. That was the same year that Kataguiri, MBL, and Brazil as a country would start to change in a profound way.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil\u2019s Lava Jato scandal, or Operation Car Wash, was first uncovered in 2014. It is one of the largest corruption scandals in history. Its name comes from a gas station in Brasilia, where a currency exchange and money transfer service was used to launder outrageous sums of money. Sixteen companies have been implicated, 160 people have been arrested over it, 179 have been indicted, and Brazil\u2019s then-president Dilma Rousseff was impeached over it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear if Rousseff was ever connected to Lava Jato, but her party, the leftist Workers\u2019 Party, was heavily implicated. As the process of impeaching Rousseff began to take off, MBL started to morph into the organization it\u2019s known as today. The communication network that Kataguiri had been building on Facebook and YouTube suddenly began to radicalize.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe impeachment was the boom,\u201d Kataguiri says.<\/p>\n<p>In the spring of 2015, Kataguiri and MBL\u2019s national coordinator, Renan Santos, organized a 600-mile march in support of Rousseff\u2019s impeachment, but also, more broadly, for \u201cfree markets, lower taxes, and privatization\u201d in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to destroy this idea that if you defend free markets then you\u2019re an old man who is asking for a dictatorship,\u201d Kataguiri said in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2015\/apr\/24\/brazil-activists-march-free-markets-margaret-thatcher-rand-paul\" >an interview<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next year, Kataguiri would become the street-level face of the impeachment movement. Rousseff would finally be impeached in August 2016, after a speech before the Senate in which she maintained her innocence. \u201cI know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear. I did not commit a crime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>But by then, MBL had become a fully functional political machine that was already setting its sights on bigger goals. \u201cWe were trying to get higher engagement than Donald Trump,\u201d Kataguiri says. \u201cThat was our focus. To be the top in the world.\u201d He says they managed to outperform Trump on Facebook for about three days in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri spent most of 2016 trying to crack Breitbart\u2019s formula. \u201cDuring the 2016 elections in Brazil, we studied how it was working in the United States because the benchmark of everything that\u2019s happening in politics is the United States,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we studied what was happening there, in terms of politics, especially with the tea party and the communication with Breitbart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, MBL had to create its own formula. Here\u2019s how MBL, as a digital network, operates.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120775\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120775\" class=\"wp-image-120775\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/batman-movimento-brasil-livre.jpg 1040w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An MBL activist dressed as Batman holds a banner reading &#8220;Two-faces Aecio. The people want impeachment, Dilma out,&#8221; referring to opposition Sen. Aecio Neves, during the March for Freedom in Brasilia, May 27, 2015.<br \/>Evaristo Sa \/ AFP \/ Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The main <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mblivre\/\" >MBL Facebook page<\/a><\/strong> has about 3 million followers. Since 2014, it\u2019s functioned more or less as the group\u2019s main hub. But Kataguiri says that due to concerns over News Feed algorithm changes and Facebook\u2019s banning of its pages this summer, MBL has begun to diversify. It has about 300,000 Twitter followers and about a half million on Instagram. Kataguiri says he doesn\u2019t know anything about the American far-right Twitter clone Gab, which has recently become big in Brazil. But MBL <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Bm3QHLNgFQ0\/?hl=en&amp;taken-by=mblivre\" >does<\/a> have a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gab.ai\/mblivre\" >page<\/a> there. The real crown jewels of MBL\u2019s digital operation right now are YouTube and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe now have, on Facebook, 20 times less engagement than we did in 2016 or 2017,\u201d Kataguiri says. \u201cTo compensate for that, we went to YouTube and we were happy because we reached a very young audience that we did not imagine to reach, and because of that, we even started a new initiative that is the students\u2019 branch of MBL. We are starting to structure that now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Forty percent of MBL\u2019s funding come from YouTube advertising. \u201cIt&#8217;s not that much money, but that\u2019s because our operation is cheap,\u201d Kataguiri says. The other 60% comes from membership fees. For 30 reais (around $10) you get a T-shirt and can call yourself an MBL member. For 500 reais, you get a free pass to the group\u2019s national congress, a bunch of merchandise, and the ability to directly ask MBL YouTubers and content creators questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not like the videos are for children,\u201d he says when asked about the young average age of MBL\u2019s YouTube audience. \u201cChildren just watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri says he\u2019s never spoken to anyone at YouTube and, like all YouTubers, isn\u2019t quite sure how the algorithm works, but he says MBL focuses on either a controversial topic that will create a lot of comments or an already-trending topic in order to hit YouTube\u2019s front page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the last month, we&#8217;ve managed to be on the front page of YouTube every day,\u201d he says. \u201cPaul Joseph Watson already shared three or four videos from MBL. Milo Yiannopoulos shared a video of ours.\u201d MBL <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mblivre\/videos\/milo-yiannopoulos-%C3%A9-um-conservador-gay-que-est%C3%A1-deixando-a-esquerda-sem-rumo-ont\/527274477396700\/\" >made a video<\/a> about Yiannopoulos two years ago, describing him as a gay conservative and asking the question: Why does the left hate him? The group <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mblivre\/posts\/534834903307324\" >posted about him<\/a> again last year, saying the Brazilian press had just discovered Yiannopoulos and was now attacking him for not being politically correct.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri has plans to expand MBL\u2019s YouTube presence. \u201cWhat we intend to do is for every elected candidate to have a YouTube channel of his own. So we have a YouTube network,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The other huge arm of MBL\u2019s digital arsenal is memes, which members send out daily via WhatsApp groups. According to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.emarketer.com\/Article\/Internet-Users-Brazil-Favor-WhatsApp-Facebook-Mobile-Messaging\/1013938\" >a study<\/a> in 2016, nearly 100% of internet users in Brazil have WhatsApp. That means about 40% of the country\u2019s 207 million people are using the app. Kataguiri estimates that MBL coordinators and members have about 1,000 affiliated WhatsApp groups around the country. Groups in Brazil max out at 200 people.<\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp is encrypted, which means it\u2019s almost impossible to get a sense of who is sharing what to whom or when. That makes gauging virality on WhatsApp almost impossible. It\u2019s become a nightmare for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/ryanhatesthis\/no-one-knows-how-bad-fake-news-is-on-whatsapp-but-if\" >fact-checkers<\/a> and political regulators, and a goldmine for groups like MBL trying to politically organize. But it\u2019s still tricky for Kataguiri to measure impact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t track how many people share your content,\u201d Kataguiri says. \u201cThe only measure we have is how many people send the content we spread back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This media landscape of memes and vlogs is what\u2019s most regularly used against MBL by traditional media and Brazil\u2019s political left. \u201cIs there a concern about fake news? Of course,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cNowadays, people only read the headline, and they already want to have an opinion before reading the news.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As MBL has become more sophisticated, and perhaps as more of its members have run for office, the organization has become more discerning about how it presents political spin. This year, following the death of a black city councillor from Rio de Janeiro named Marielle Franco, MBL was accused of organizing a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/brasil.elpais.com\/brasil\/2018\/03\/17\/politica\/1521318452_688519.html\" >coordinated fake news campaign<\/a> against her. Franco was a vocal opponent of police violence, and her death was ruled <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/brasil.estadao.com.br\/noticias\/rio-de-janeiro,direcao-dos-tiros-contra-marielle-reforca-hipotese-de-ataque-premeditado,70002229183\" >an execution<\/a>. The nine bullets that killed Franco were purchased by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/mar\/18\/marielle-franco-brazil-favelas-mourn-death-champion\" >federal police<\/a> in 2006. Days after her death, rumors attributed to MBL-affliated pages and profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp began to insinuate that she died because she was involved with \u201cbandits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri says what they actually did was take what a judge was saying about Franco \u2014 which was untrue \u2014 and share it with commentary. \u201cWe never said we agree with it or that it was real. We just said that the judge said it. We just noticed it like every other outlet did,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri is fine with the label \u201cpropaganda,\u201d though. He says MBL\u2019s political message is what separates its members from the rabid pro-Bolsonaro trolls (Bolsominions) on Twitter. All MBL content follows the same simple formula.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst, we get news from somewhere,\u201d he says. \u201cThere&#8217;s news from Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo, there&#8217;s news from Globo, there&#8217;s news from anywhere, but we choose the news that the public wants to read. We basically curate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, he says, they decide how to manipulate that news to fit their message. \u201cNowadays, people only read the headline, and they already want to have an opinion before reading the news. Basically, what we offer them is, \u2018This is the news, in two phrases \u2014 this is what we think about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And finally, the third step: \u201cBasically something to make people laugh and have an incentive to share it with their friends,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where Arthur Mam\u00e3e Falei comes in.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120776\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Arthur-Moledo-do-Val-Arthur-Mam\u00e3e-Falei-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120776\" class=\"wp-image-120776\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Arthur-Moledo-do-Val-Arthur-Mam\u00e3e-Falei-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Arthur-Moledo-do-Val-Arthur-Mam\u00e3e-Falei-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg 791w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Arthur-Moledo-do-Val-Arthur-Mam\u00e3e-Falei-movimento-brasil-livre-300x188.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Arthur-Moledo-do-Val-Arthur-Mam\u00e3e-Falei-movimento-brasil-livre-768x483.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120776\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arthur Moledo do Val, aka Arthur Mam\u00e3e Falei<br \/>Mamaefalei \/ YouTube \/ Via youtube.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Arthur Mam\u00e3e Falei\u2019s real name<\/strong> is Arthur Moledo do Val. Mam\u00e3e Falei is his YouTube handle, and it literally translates to \u201cMama told you so.\u201d This month, he became a state representative. Do Val, even more so than Kataguiri, has zero political experience. The 32-year-old was working at his family\u2019s scrap metal shop before he started a YouTube channel. He started making videos in 2015 and spent the first few years creating content in relative obscurity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a real politician and he is just a YouTuber,\u201d Kataguiri says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I prefer to be a YouTuber,\u201d do Val fires back.<\/p>\n<p>Do Val\u2019s most-watched video right now is called \u201c15 minutes with Jair Bolsonaro.\u201d It\u2019s been viewed 3.8 million times. His <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kr83PB7KkTg\" >first big video<\/a> was in August 2016, using the format he\u2019s now best known for. In it, he attends a rally against President Michel Temer, who replaced Dilma Rousseff after her impeachment. Temer was hated among Brazil\u2019s young progressive left. Do Val goes into the crowd and harasses the protesters. He asks them questions about politics to try to make them look stupid.<\/p>\n<p>The Temer protest doesn\u2019t end in violence, but a lot of do Val\u2019s videos do. He estimates he\u2019s had five cameras broken across 50 demonstrations. One of his most infamous videos was filmed at a school that leftist protesters were occupying. He was attacked so violently that he passed out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I started to wake up, the students were taking off my camera, but I had time to recover it and run away. I got to a police station, but in Brazil there are stations dedicated only to crimes against women,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a women\u2019s police station. So I was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m safe! I was getting beaten up.\u2019 The officer looked behind me and there were five girls saying, \u2018We got raped by him.\u2019 So I got arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He spent seven hours handcuffed to a metal bar in the police station until other students could come in and show the police video recordings of the beating.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cI\u2019m really grateful to YouTube because it turned me into what I am today.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After do Val passed the 100,000 subscribers mark, his channel started to make serious money. In his worst month, he made around $3,000, and this month \u2014 his best \u2014 he made $12,000. He\u2019s featured heavily on YouTube in Brazil and recognized on the street now, but he\u2019s never heard from anyone who works at YouTube, other than when he got his Play Button plaque for a million subscribers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really grateful to YouTube because it turned me into what I am today,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil has a history of unorthodox candidates running for office: porn stars, footballers, a guy dressed up like Batman. A TV clown has been reelected a few times. It\u2019s not out of the realm of possibility that a YouTuber who works at a scrap metal yard and gets beat up at protests could be elected to local office in Brazil. The key difference with do Val is that he got half a million votes. That\u2019s a fourth of his YouTube audience and an absurd number for a state election. Candidates in previous years have been elected with 20,000 votes. He also doesn\u2019t plan to stop going to protests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s my main activity,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople think that politics is just being in the office. And it\u2019s not. You\u2019re a political agent even if you\u2019re not in office.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120777\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fernando-Holiday-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120777\" class=\"wp-image-120777\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fernando-Holiday-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fernando-Holiday-movimento-brasil-livre.jpeg 789w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fernando-Holiday-movimento-brasil-livre-300x187.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Fernando-Holiday-movimento-brasil-livre-768x479.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120777\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fernando Holiday<br \/>MBL &#8211; Movimento Brasil Livre \/ YouTube \/ Via youtube.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Kataguiri describes himself<\/strong> as a politician and describes do Val as a YouTuber \u2014 and describes Fernando Holiday as something in between. Holiday is probably the second-most controversial figure within MBL. Two years ago, when he was 20, he rode the Facebook traffic boom to become the youngest city councillor in S\u00e3o Paulo history, with almost 50,000 votes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was elected by the internet,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Like Kataguiri, Holiday self-identifies as an economic liberal. And like Kataguiri \u2014 who is half-Japanese \u2014 Holiday is also an interesting figure for the Brazilian political right: He\u2019s black and gay.<\/p>\n<p>Holiday first gained notoriety by speaking out against affirmative action. He said he\u2019s been criticized by black leaders in Brazil. \u201cThe old politicians didn\u2019t take me seriously. I started to get respected as time went by, as I presented projects, debated issues,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cI was elected by the internet.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And then there was the incident with Democratic Labor Party candidate Ciro Gomes. Gomes has a bit of the same energy around him right now as Bernie Sanders did in 2016. Many are saying he would have been a better choice than Workers\u2019 Party candidate Fernando Haddad to go up against Bolsonaro during the final presidential vote at the end of this month. Gomes\u2019s name or face has been a fixture at leftist protests leading up to the election.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Gomes called Holiday a \u201ccapit\u00e3o do mato\u201d during a radio interview. It\u2019s a racist Brazilian expression that refers to slaves who would help capture escaped fellow slaves. MBL called Gomes racist in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mblivre\/videos\/vb.204223673035117\/980703225387154\/?type=2&amp;theater\" >Facebook posts<\/a> and memes. Gomes threatened to sue MBL for calling him racist. Holiday threatened to sue Gomes. A police investigation <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/br18.com.br\/inquerito-por-injuria-racial-contra-ciro-em-sp\/\" >was opened<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n<p>A few months before the incident with Gomes, MBL came out in defense of journalist William Waack after audio leaked of Waack making racist remarks. \u201cWho has never talked bullshit among friends?\u201d MBL said in a video.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur opinion is the same as it is in the law. What really matters is if he had the intention to offend or not, and he had,\u201d Kataguiri says. \u201cIt was not a joke. It was something he said in a show. He intended to offend [Holiday] because of the color of his skin. That&#8217;s difference between what&#8217;s inappropriate and what&#8217;s politically incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cOther city councillors kind of fear me because most of them don\u2019t understand the power of social networks.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These incidents aren\u2019t uncommon for Holiday. He got in a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FernandoHoliday\/status\/1052573602493526016\" >Twitter fight<\/a> just this week after he claimed the KKK was a left-wing organization. Far-right internet personalities, of course, can be equally diverse. But the diversity within MBL is clashing hard with a larger, more unruly conservative moment in Brazil right now, led by Bolsonaro, and it\u2019s out of step with a global movement of white nationalism. MBL has to choose when and how to align with Bolsonaro, who has advocated for bringing back Brazil\u2019s military dictatorship and has called Afro-Brazilian descendants of slaves lazy. Holiday says he disapproves of some of what Bolsonaro says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people who are not activists \u2014 in other words, who are just regular people \u2014 are fans of the movement and like my work and what we are doing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Holiday has a lot of support. He\u2019s just getting started on YouTube \u2014 part of Kataguiri\u2019s plans for their YouTube propaganda network \u2014 and he already has 600,000 followers on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther city councillors kind of fear me because most of them don\u2019t understand the power of social networks,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_120778\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-120778\" class=\"wp-image-120778\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts-1024x697.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts-1024x697.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts-768x523.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/movimento-brasil-livre-tshirts.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-120778\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A man looks at a T-shirt with a photo of Jair Bolsonaro sold at one of the largest street markets in Rio de Janeiro. Picture Alliance \/ Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>There are 32 registered political parties<\/strong> in Brazil. Most of the political landscape is controlled by about five. The second round of the general election here this month will see the leftist Workers\u2019 Party go up against Bolsonaro\u2019s Social Liberal Party. Kataguiri, do Val, and Holiday are all part of the same political party, the Democrats. It\u2019s a right-wing party dedicated to economic liberalism and Christian democracy, but they all say they\u2019re MBL members first. Which is a powerful concept.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri says they support Bolsonaro for practical reasons. They hate the Workers\u2019 Party and the far-right wave that\u2019s running through Brazil, but it ultimately helps them. Bolsonaro has been good for traffic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think most of Bolsonaro&#8217;s supporters are just tired of the system and want an anti-establishment candidate,\u201d Kataguiri says.<\/p>\n<p>Kataguiri and his coordinators are banking on the populist energy of Bolsonaro being a passing fad. This, of course, is a big gamble. Bolsonaro supporters have already <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/17\/world\/americas\/brazil-attacks-bolsonaro-haddad.html\" >been connected<\/a> to a string of assaults and hate crimes this past week. If this is a fad, it\u2019s just getting started. Right now, MBL and do Val\u2019s YouTube audiences are primarily ages 13\u201324.<\/p>\n<p>Until that YouTube audience can get a little older and more indoctrinated \u2014 and become legally able to vote \u2014 Kataguiri has a plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Bolsonaro tries anything more radical, it will go through Congress,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd if it goes through Congress, we&#8217;ll stop it.\u201d \u25cf<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>CORRECTION:<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>October 22, 2018, at 2:41 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Forty percent of MBL&#8217;s funding comes from YouTube ad revenue. An earlier version of this post incorrectly described that money as profit.<\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ryan-Broderick.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-120779\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ryan-Broderick.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/><\/a><\/em><em>Ryan Broderick is a reporter for <\/em>BuzzFeed News<em> and is based in London. Contact <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/author\/ryanhatesthis\" >Ryan Broderick<\/a> at <a href=\"mailto:ryan@buzzfeed.com\">ryan@buzzfeed.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/ryanhatesthis\/brazils-congressional-youtubers\" >Go to Original \u2013 buzzfeednews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of twentysomethings leveraged their huge YouTube audiences and actually won seats in Brazil&#8217;s federal and state elections. What happens next is anyone&#8217;s guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":120773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180,53,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brics","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}