In the last ten days, the Pardal app, made available by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), received more than 14 thousand reports of irregularities in electoral propaganda, which amounts to, on average, one report per minute. 
Electoral propaganda officially began on August 16 and must follow a series of rules established in a resolution by the TSE, whether on the streets or on the internet, especially with regard to social networks and the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, for example.
Most of the complaints, so far, about half, concern campaigns for city councilor. The majority were in the state of São Paulo (2,891), followed by Minas Gerais (1,605), Pernambuco (1,603) and Rio Grande do Sul (1,271).
The Pardal app – available for cell phones with Android or iOS (Apple) operating systems – has been around since 2012, and has been improved ever since. “The main new feature for this year is the use of the tool to report deviations in electoral campaigns on the internet,” the TSE reported.
Police power
The idea behind the app is to contribute to the police power of the Electoral Court, which can order the removal of any irregular propaganda from circulation. According to the TSE, all complaints are forwarded to a responsible electoral judge so that he can take action.
After making the complaint, the voter receives a protocol number and can track the progress through Pardal Web. Anyone who notices any irregularity can report it to the Electoral Court through the app.
THE Brazil Agency highlighted the main irregularities related to electoral propaganda. Voters should be aware.
In addition to Pardal, the TSE also provides Electoral Disinformation Alert System (Siade), which can be activated for complaints not necessarily related to propaganda, such as cases of disinformation, threats and incitement to violence, disruption or threat to the Democratic Rule of Law, irregularities in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), hateful behavior or speech and receipt of irregular messages.
