Brazil’s 2026 electoral process is likely to face strong interference from major technology corporations, commonly referred to as big tech. The warning comes from political scientist Rudá Ricci, who argues that global tech giants will place strategic focus on Brazil, as well as Colombia, which begins its presidential election cycle in May for a term running through 2030.
“These are the largest and most politically significant elections in Latin America this year,” Ricci said in an interview with Radio BdF, on Wednesday (7). “There is already a clear decision: big tech will go all in, flooding voters with millions of messages, all customized, each one telling a different story to a different niche.”
According to Ricci, advances in algorithmic targeting have made these audience segments increasingly precise, a trend that will be aggressively exploited as campaigns intensify in the coming months. “If you’re a Corinthians fan, they’ll say Lula is a Corinthians supporter who never did anything for the club. If you’re a Palmeiras fan, they’ll also say Lula is a Corinthians supporter,” he explained. “And so on.”
Ricci also points to a deeper structural risk in Brazilian society. He notes that recent research shows growing political inertia and individualism among the population, a dynamic that could make large-scale manipulation easier. He cites the public response to the January 8, 2023 coup attempt as an example: while opinion polls show widespread rejection of the attacks, public mobilization in the streets has been limited.
“For us in sociology, this is striking. We have never seen Brazilian society this inert,” Ricci said. “Research across the country shows people increasingly focused on solving their lives individually. That’s extremely worrying, and it will make it much easier for the kind of manipulation we are likely to see starting in August in Brazil.”
