RESEARCH: Analyzing far-right groups on Telegram channels

From January to May 2024, LACC hosted Pablo Almada, a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for the Study of Violence at the University of São Paulo, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Anthony Pereira. Dr. Almada has been conducting research analyzing far-right groups on Telegram channels. The research aims to comprehend how denialism, authoritarian views, and misinformation are spread on that platform, influencing public opinion, and promoting anti-democratic positions.

Recent political events, such as the U.S. Capitol Hill riots in 2021 and the invasion of Brazil's Three Powers, in 2023, were driven by radical groups on various social media platforms. Dr. Almada seeks to understand the discourses in the communities of Donald Trump’s and Jair Bolsonaro's supporters. Although there are thousands of channels for Trump's and Bolsonaro's supporters on Telegram, they are often characterized by an enormous flow of information from dubious sources, combining social media posts and unknown news websites that simulate journalistic language while using opinionated points of view that attack democratic values, such as human rights, and institutional legitimacy, and propagate hate speech.