WhatsApp's 'Lula's Army' Grows to 10.8 Million Before Brazil Runoff

A WhatsApp channel called Lula's Army grew to 10.8 million followers in the three weeks between the first and second rounds of Brazil's presidential election, according to BBC News. Allies of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva credit the channel with helping reverse polling that had shown right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro ahead.

What is Lula's Army and how fast did it grow?

The channel was led by Congressman André Janones and used the final weeks of the race to push supporters toward coordinated online action, the BBC reported. Messages carried ready-made templates for followers to forward to friends and family, each assigned to a specific task meant to boost Lula's visibility on social platforms.

Reported figures:

• 10.8 million followers accumulated on the channel
• Three weeks between the first and second election rounds

What did the channel ask supporters to do?

Janones issued daily instructions urging followers to "blow up" new campaign videos or help hashtags "take off," according to the BBC. Messages included lines such as "Guys, urgent!", "Don't go to sleep yet," and "No food before the mission!" On the eve of the vote, Janones hosted a 24-hour broadcast dubbed the "turnaround livestream," even as polling continued to point toward a Bolsonaro win, the outlet reported.

"Our General" — Lula, in his victory speech, thanking Janones for "raising the morale of our troops every day," per BBC News.

How does this compare with past Bolsonaro-aligned WhatsApp networks?

WhatsApp and Telegram networks aligned with conservatives have been widely seen as dominant in Brazilian online campaigning since Jair Bolsonaro's 2018 election, the BBC reported. The scale of Lula's Army appeared to reverse that imbalance, convincing some Workers' Party supporters that the left had found a way to compete in the same digital arena, according to the outlet.

Can the channel's effect on votes actually be measured?

Here the reporting is cautious. The BBC noted that measuring the electoral impact of online mobilization is "notoriously difficult," and political scientists quoted in the piece said it is not possible to determine how many votes, if any, were directly influenced by the WhatsApp operation. That uncertainty applies even though allies of Lula point to the channel's rapid growth as a factor in the comeback.

What else do analysts say drove the comeback?

Political scientist Denilde Holzhacker told the BBC that a shift in campaign strategy — not online engagement alone — was central to Lula's turnaround, pointing to changes the Workers' Party made to its broader approach during the final stretch of the race. The BBC's reporting, by Julia Braun, Rute Pina and Luiz Fernando Toledo, drew on interviews conducted in London and São Paulo rather than on independent vote-tracking data, underscoring that the link between the channel's growth and the election outcome remains an assessment by campaign insiders rather than a measured causal finding.

Some members of the Workers' Party had worried that Janones's confrontational online style could undermine a more moderate image the party hoped to project for Lula, the BBC reported, even as the tactic appeared to pay off in the final count.

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