Lula’s chief social media strategist says his playbook could work in Argentina

Brazilian congressman André Janones, the social media strategist behind Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s epic electoral comeback, said that “between 50% and 60%” of their playbook can work in Argentina.

Janones is known as “the General” in Lula’s digital army for his role in organizing the Workers’ Party strategy for the election.

During a visit to the country, the congressman met with former Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa and former President Cristina Fernández, and said the same strategy can be used in the upcoming 2027 presidential election due to “how similar the contexts in [Brazil and Argentina] are.”

“Cristina and I spoke for almost three hours,” Janones told C5N. “The main focus was on what we did with WhatsApp, the strengths we saw, the voters, the criteria, and the algorithm.”

He added he was “inspired” by Cristina’s “energy and enthusiasm.”

Training activists According to the Janones, one of the keys to reaching voters was the use of WhatsApp groups as an organizational and content distribution tool, training activists and supporters to understand how social media metrics worked and how they could influence the circulation of content.

“We shared techniques for using social media algorithms to circumvent Meta’s algorithms,” he explained.

Janones explained that one of the key strategies was to change the way supporters interacted with posts critical of the Brazilian government.

“Whenever we see someone speaking ill of Lula, we shouldn’t defend him, because the algorithm will think that content is relevant. We should ignore it and comment on posts that speak well of the president,” he explained.

Janones said the goal of the strategy is to secure a political presence on digital platforms.

“We don’t want the right to dominate; we want a balance,” he said.

With information from Ámbito