From 60,000 to 11 million: WhatsApp channel drives Lula's comeback

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stood on Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo on Sunday night, his hand on the shoulder of a man in a green and yellow jersey. The president called Andre Janones "our general" and thanked him for lifting campaign morale. Janones, a 42-year-old congressman, had spent the final weeks of the election building a digital movement that many credit with saving Lula's presidency.

Lula finished behind right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro in the first round of voting. His campaign struggled to match the right's social media reach. Janones, who had helped coordinate Lula's digital strategy in 2022, argued the operation needed a new approach. He launched a video declaring that Lula would be re-elected and urged supporters to join his WhatsApp channel, Exercito do Lula.

The channel started with about 60,000 followers after the first round. By election day, it had grown to nearly 11 million subscribers. Janones assigned tasks to members, calling them soldiers. These missions included recruiting three friends, sharing campaign videos, and promoting hashtags. The messages arrived in a constant stream, often written in capital letters. Members could not reply but could forward messages or react with emojis, generating tens of thousands of responses.

Viktor Chagas, a professor at Fluminense Federal University, described the strategy as electoral gamification. He noted that Janones used tactics similar to those of Bolsonarism, including urgent messaging and negative campaigning. Chagas said the scale of the network in 2026 was unprecedented for left-wing digital organizing. It unified scattered online communities into a single, actionable group.

Andre Pagliarini, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University, said the channel gave supporters a tangible way to help. He argued that the campaign also changed its narrative after the first round. When Flavio Bolsonaro mocked Lula for having nine fingers during a debate, Lula explained that he lost a finger at 17 working a night shift at a factory. He linked his injury to worker safety issues. Janones amplified this moment online with the hashtag #SomosTodos9Dedos, or We Are All Nine Fingers.

It remains difficult to prove empirically that the WhatsApp group directly delivered votes. Pagliarini stated that there is no clear way to connect the group's activity to the final outcome. However, he believed Janones became a key figure in turning the race around. Chagas agreed, saying it is hard to imagine the victory without the Army's role in consolidating support. The channel kept supporters engaged through the final stretch and mobilized them for the celebration on election night.