Brazil's Lula still losing digital battle to Bolsonaro

Wearing a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva smiles as he gushes on his love of Brazilian music, and then segues into a barstool-style dissertation on football.

But for all Lula’s working-class roots and folksy appeal, the veteran leftist’s live sessions on social media just can’t seem to match those of the overpowering, base-mobilizing digital phenomenon that is his predecessor, far-right ex-army captain Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, the man dubbed the “Tropical Trump,” wrote the book on blending social media and politics in Brazil, delivering weekly Facebook live addresses from the presidential palace throughout his time there, from 2019 to 2022.