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Brazil 

Jair bolsonaro and electoral fraud

Owner of websites criticized for 'fake news' receives money from deputy

• Delegate Francischini has allocated R $ 24 thousand of his parliamentary quota to a company linked to the couple that manages a network of sites designated as vehicles that propagate "fake news"

Electoral fraud

Electoral fraud  ,  manipulation of elections  or  manipulation of votes 

is an illegal interference in the process of an  election  , either by increasing the participation of the votes of the favored candidate, depressing the participation of the votes of the rival candidates, or both. What constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country.

Many types of electoral fraud are outlawed in electoral legislation, but others violate general laws, such as those prohibiting  aggression  ,  harassment  or  defamation  . Although technically the term "electoral fraud" covers only acts that are illegal, the term is sometimes used to describe acts that are legal but considered morally unacceptable, out of the spirit of an election or in violation of the principles of democracy.

 ^[1]  [2]  Showing elections , containing only one candidate, are sometimes classified as electoral fraud, although they can comply with the law and are presented more as referendums.

In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a  coup  or corruption of democracy. In a  tight election  , a small amount of scams may be enough to change the outcome. Even if the outcome is not affected, disclosure of fraud can have a damaging effect if it is not punished, as it may reduce voter confidence in  democracy  .

writing source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud

Six fiscal notes paid by the office of Federal Deputy Fernando Francischini (PSL-PR), Delegate Francischini, pointed out that the parliamentarian allocated R $ 24 thousand of his parliamentary quota, between December of last year and April of this year, to a company on behalf of a couple who run a network of sites targeted as "fake news" vehicles.

The notes appear in the Transparency Portal of the Chamber of Deputies and were issued by the company Novo Brasil Empreendimentos Digitais for "dissemination of parliamentary activity". Monthly payments of R $ 4,000 were paid between December and March, and two other payments of the same amount were made in April.

Novo Brasil Empreendimentos Digitais has as partners registered with the Federal Revenue the lawyer Thais Raposo Chaves and her husband, Ernani Fernandes. Ernani also appears as responsible for the domain of political content site engaged Political Leaf (which has no relation with the Folha Group).

Geraldo Bubniak / AGB / Estadão Content - Mar.2018

Federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), who is a candidate for the presidency, arrives in Paraná to launch the pre-candidacy of the Federal Deputy Fernando Francischini, whom he has embraced, to the Senate

Since December, the Folha Politica has published in its pages several texts in which it quotes the deputy Francischini. They have titles like "Delegate Francischini talks 'in the can' what he thinks of Lula" or "Delegate and Bolsonaro present bill to end privileges for former presidents." 

In January, the site also posted a video entitled "URGENT: In live broadcast, Bolsonaro announces application for PSL." In addition to a party companion, Francischini is one of the main political allies of Federal Deputy Jair Bolsonaro (PSL-RJ), pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic.

Asked about the invoices, Francischini's advisory said that Ernani Fernandes "provides advice on social networks and publishes some videos for publication" in the profiles of the deputy and that the payments have no relation with the sites of the network administered by the couple.

April invoice received by Ernani's company from Deputy Francischini

According to the deputy's advice, Ernani was appointed to render services to the parliamentarian for "a matter of content affinity" on issues such as anti-corruption, opposition to the PT and support for Operation Lava Jato.

Play / Facebook

Profile photo on Facebook dated 2011 by Ernani Fernandes and his wife, the lawyer Thais Raposo Chaves

Link with Frota and Kataguiri

The Political Sheet, as well as several other similar sites such as Politics on the Net, Courier of Power, Political Criticism, Folha do Povo and Gazeta Social, presents itself as a vehicle administered by Rede RFA (Raposo Fernandes Associados) - a combination of the surnames of Ernani and Thais.

The group also manages the Facebook pages of the sites mentioned above and others such as MCC - Movement against Corruption (the largest of them, with more than 3.5 million followers), Juventude contra Corrupção, Judge Sergio Moro - Brazil Is with You, Support to the Moor and Participative Democracy Movement, besides the official profile of the actor Alexandre Frota in the social network and the Social Record channel, YouTube, among others.

In 2014, some videos of the Social Record had as presenter the current national coordinator of MBL (Movimento Brasil Livre), Kim Kataguiri. At the time, the group that made Kataguiri nationally famous had not yet been formally created.

Marlene Bergamo - 21.set.2015 / Folhapress

Kim Kataguiri, leader of the Free Brazil Movement

The UOL  report  attempted to contact Kim Kataguiri to seek clarification on a possible relationship with Ernani Fernandes, but the MBL leader did not respond to the messages.

Asked about his relationship with Ernani Fernandes and his companies, the actor Alexandre Frota, affiliated to the PSL, said he had no relation with Folha Politica. "My page is Alexandre Frota, and he [Ernani] is one of the administrators, he works managing the page."

The actor added that he is not aware of any inquiry or proceeding that Ernani or his companies are responding or for which they have been convicted.

Narrative antipetista

According to researcher Pablo Ortellado, coordinator of the Monitor Project of Political Debate in the Digital Environment, USP (University of São Paulo), the network of sites associated with Ernani Fernandes constitutes "an ecosystem of its own" in the universe of political content engaged in the Internet.

"He has a portfolio of both websites and Facebook pages," says Ortellado. "If you add it all up, let's see that it's reaching out to millions of people. He's one of the most influential single actors in the network who play this relationship between news sites and engaged pages."

The Folha Política is one of the main sites cited in articles, surveys and lists that address the phenomenon of fake news - fake news published on the Internet or based on information distorted and taken from its original context.

Ortellado says that websites commonly associated with the term "fake news" only occasionally produce transvestite lies.

"Most of what is produced by these sites are stuffed with little distortions: exaggerations, appealing headlines, sensationalist or in disagreement with the text, speculation presented as facts, false attributions and other fraud and accomplishment procedures," says the researcher of USP.

In the case of the content published by the pages of the RFA Network, Ortellado evaluates that the most common characteristic is to filter the facts of the day and adapt them so that they fit "in an antipetista narrative" and help to compose "a certain discourse, a vision of world. "

Discreet profile and company in empty apartment

Besides Novo Brasil Empreendimentos Digitais, Thais and Ernani are also partners in another company registered with the Federal Revenue: Raposo Fernandes Digital Marketing.

Playback / Google Street View

Facade of the house where the company is registered Raposo Fernandes Digital Marketing

The UOL  report  went to the addresses associated with the records of the two companies, both in Interlagos, in the south zone of São Paulo. In one of them, a residential condominium, the porter informed that the unit belonging to Ernani and Thais was empty and that the couple appears in the place only to look for correspondences.

The other is a semi-detached house, with the sign torn from a disabled clinic, which had as its only apparent entrance two metal garage doors, filled with illegible graffiti.

On the spot, the report found Thais and tried to talk to her, but the lawyer refused to speak and said she was leaving for a compromise.

The report also contacted Thais and Ernani via telephone, email and social networking messages for at least four weeks, but received no response.

Most of the information about the two in their personal profiles on social networks is restricted to friends, but both cite having completed studies at the USP Law School.

Ernani is the son of Colonel Ermindo Neto, who served as special adviser to the Army commander between November 2013 and December 2015. In just over 20 texts published by Folha Politica between 2013 and 2014, it was possible to find messages published by the profile of the colonel on social networks in the box intended for comments from readers. 

source images google 
source writing https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/eleicoes/2018/noticias/2018/05/26/dono-de-sites-criticados-por-fake-news-recebe-dinheiro-de -deputado.htm