Backstory and links via an open letter written by a group called Brazilian Technologists for Plurality and Democracy: https://whatsappgate.org/
Bolsonaro is the fascist candidate who (barring a miracle) will win the presidential election in Brazil this Sunday.
Just another example of how consolidated, centralized, big data-driven technology can be manipulated for political ends.
And especially that this power is not circumscribed to GAFA but that different tech tools are equally important or influential in different regions. For example, people are still investigating the influence of Facebook in Myanmar’s genocide or also Whatsapp (especially the groups feature) in different violent acts. The situation in Brazil is beyond scary.
that’s right. you centralize power coupled with a lack of accountability, you collect all this data that can be used for manipulative purposes and then sell it, and then you sit back and go “but technology isn’t political!!! we didn’t do this!!!”
the Brazil situation is indeed terrifying, and we’re going to see more of this unfortunately