Lula allies credit 10.8m-follower WhatsApp channel for

In short

The WhatsApp channel known as Lula’s Army grew to 10.8 million followers during Brazil’s presidential runoff campaign.
Congressman André Janones led the operation, which gave supporters tasks such as sharing campaign videos and promoting hashtags.
Lula called André Janones “our General” in his victory speech and thanked him for raising the morale of “our troops every day”.
Political scientist Mayra Goulart, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, attributes the comeback to a combination of social media and street-level mobilisation.
Political scientist Denilde Holzhacker credits a change in Lula’s campaign strategy rather than digital campaigning alone.

A WhatsApp channel created to back Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election campaign grew to 10.8 million followers and, according to the Brazilian president’s allies, helped him overturn a deficit to right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro in about three weeks. The channel, called Lula’s Army, was run by Congressman André Janones.

What was Lula’s Army?

Lula’s Army appeared when many supporters doubted the president could reverse the race, and it grew rapidly between the two rounds. It distributed ready-made templates that followers could forward to friends and family, assigning each supporter a specific task aimed at lifting Lula’s visibility.

What did the channel ask supporters to do?

André Janones told his “troops” to “blow up” the latest campaign video or help a hashtag “take off”. Instructions sent to followers included “Guys, urgent!”, “Don’t go to sleep yet”, “No food before the mission!” and “I have one more task before you’re dismissed”. On the eve of the election he hosted a 24-hour “turnaround livestream”, even as polls still pointed to a Bolsonaro victory.

The channel’s growth drew attention because conservatives aligned with former president Jair Bolsonaro had long been seen as dominant in online political mobilisation, especially on WhatsApp and Telegram — networks central to Brazilian campaigning since Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018 election win.

Did online mobilisation alone turn the race?

Measuring the electoral impact of online campaigning is notoriously difficult. Allies credit Lula’s Army with helping fuel the comeback, but political scientists say it is impossible to establish how many votes, if any, the operation directly influenced.

Political scientist Denilde Holzhacker argues that a change in Lula’s campaign strategy was key. Rather than relying only on online engagement, she says, the Workers’ Party candidate linked digital campaigning to grassroots mobilisation, intensified local efforts and tied a Bolsonaro victory to concerns about social programmes and the loss of rights — an approach consistent with the campaign’s push for turnout in Minas Gerais.

“It was to Lula’s credit that he recognised his own weakness and completely changed his style,” Denilde Holzhacker says. “And Janones managed to do something that had seemed unthinkable for Brazil’s left – dominate social media.”

Holzhacker argues that Flávio Bolsonaro entered the run-off overly confident of victory and failed to communicate his message to supporters as effectively. A Brazilian judge has also barred Flávio Bolsonaro from travelling and cancelled his passports.

What role did street-level campaigning play?

Mayra Goulart, a sociologist and political scientist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, also warns against attributing the comeback to social media alone, pointing to a combination of online and physical mobilisation.

“It was a combination of social media and street-level mobilisation,” Mayra Goulart says. “The physical world enabled a form of mobilisation capable of reducing abstention and persuading undecided voters.”

Goulart argues that Lula supporters turned online enthusiasm into real-world engagement. “Those committed to Lula’s victory worked to bring people together and persuade them to vote,” she says, adding that the effort helped reduce abstention and could prove valuable to Lula’s incoming administration.

What did Lula say about Janones?

In his victory speech, Lula referred to Janones as “our General” and thanked him for “raising the morale of our troops every day”. The president also said the election had taught him lessons and pledged to change how Brazil is governed: “We are going to give people a greater say in decision-making, and digital communication will play a much bigger role in my government.”

Frequently asked questions

How many followers did Lula’s Army have?

The WhatsApp channel called Lula’s Army grew to 10.8 million followers during Brazil’s presidential runoff campaign.

Who ran the Lula’s Army WhatsApp channel?

Congressman André Janones led the operation, assigning supporters tasks such as sharing campaign videos and promoting hashtags.

Did the WhatsApp channel decide Brazil’s election?

Political scientists say it is impossible to establish how many votes, if any, the operation directly influenced, and point to a mix of digital and street-level campaigning.