Viralizando o ódio: a utilização de discursos de ódio e desinformação para engajamento e promoção eleitoral

Abstract

This research analyzes the instrumentalization of hate speech and disinformation as tools for engagement and electoral promotion in Brazil. The study's main objectives are to understand how the architecture of digital platforms enhances the viral spread of hateful content, to analyze the tension between freedom of expression and the need for legal intervention, and to examine the institutional responses of the Electoral Court and the Judiciary to this phenomenon. Methodologically, bibliographic and documentary research was adopted, with analysis of communication and discourse theories, legislation, normative resolutions, and jurisprudence of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and the Supreme Federal Court (STF). The results demonstrate that, faced with a legislative vacuum and the algorithmic opacity of the platforms, the Judiciary has assumed a proactive role in regulating the digital environment. The inadequacy of self regulation by big tech companies, the paralysis of legislative debate, and the resistance of platforms to comply with court orders stand out as factors that hinder the containment of discursive violence and undermine trust in the electoral process. It is concluded that Brazil is moving towards a hybrid regulatory model, where the reinterpretation of the civil liability of platforms becomes a fundamental pillar to ensure that the digital architecture fulfills its social function and does not become a vector of democratic destabilization.