Media Labor, Surveillance Capitalism, and the Rise of the Far-Right Ideology in Brazil

Abstract

The emergence of Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil’s broader ideological shift toward the far right signal a significant transformation in the country’s political imaginaries, reminiscent of the discursive and political resurgence of the military dictatorship (1964–1985). This study examines the mechanisms underpinning this shift through two complementary ethnographic approaches: (1) an analysis of WhatsApp and Telegram chat groups, and (2) an examination of far-right video channels.

We argue that by strategically controlling the flow of information within thousands of digitally segmented discussion groups, the far right was able to mobilize media labor, which was subsequently monetized through the incentive structures of Big Tech platforms operating within the framework of surveillance capitalism. Drawing on Eric Wolf’s conceptualization of structural power, we contend that this process constitutes a consolidation of political influence through the articulation of organizational power.

Furthermore, we highlight how a media system fundamentally structured around surveillance capitalism fosters democratic erosion, exemplified by Brazil’s conservative turn and the resurgence of an ideological framework that envisions society as a hierarchical order in which subaltern groups must either be assimilated or eliminated. This logic, rooted in the authoritarian practices of the dictatorship, is reconfigured within contemporary digital infrastructures that facilitate the naturalization of violence against non-Western ways of living.

Rather than fostering democratic plurality, this system operates in contradiction to the principles of human flourishing. In the Brazilian context, the consolidation of surveillance capitalism within journalistic information systems played a crucial role in mobilizing support for policies of exclusion and submission.