where it was published: TikTok.
Completion of Proof: Video shared on TikTok is a montage that combines images of an interview given by former President Lula (PT) to a radio station in Salvador (BA) with a fake audio, of unknown origin, suggesting that he would be declaring his vote and asking for support for the President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). When watching the video, it is possible to perceive a clear lack of synchrony between sound and image, which denounces the falsity of the material targeted by this verification.
The 31-second snippet used for the montage is based on a broadcast made in the Lula’s social networks on March 6, 2018, when the politician gave an interview to Jornal da Bahia, from Rádio Metrópole. By accessing the video of the interview in its entirety, with original audio, it is possible to identify what the politician actually says, which in no way resembles what the montage suggests.
At the time of the interview, the election year, the same images were used in the production of pieces of disinformation, also with the aim of suggesting Lula’s support for Bolsonaro. They were denied by the PT itself and by verification agencies (G1 and Rumors.org). In September of that year, the PT even released a letter corroborating support for the then candidate for the Presidency of the Republic by the PT, Fernando Haddad.
The montage with the same fake dub returned to circulation in 2022, a scenario in which Lula is a pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic by the PT in dispute against Jair Bolsonaro, and one of the main opponents of the current president.
To Comprova, Lula’s advice reaffirmed the position released in 2018, when the video began to circulate, that it is a montage and that the PT would never ask for votes from Jair Bolsonaro.
In recent checks, Comprova has come across content that even uses artifices such as crude montages, laughing emojis and even lack of sync between sound and image – in this case – so that the video can be interpreted as satire. The profile description of the author of the post on TikTok [frases e memes] also contributes to this interpretation.
In the comments, however, it is possible to verify that only part of the users understand the content as a piece of humor, while others praise President Jair Bolsonaro and the speech falsely attributed to Lula. By presenting an unexpected statement, the publication helps to confuse and misinform the public.
Falsefor Comprova, is content invented or edited to change its original meaning and deliberately disseminated to spread a falsehood.
Scope of publication: Comprova investigates the most far-reaching suspicious content on social networks. Until July 21, the publication had been reproduced more than 27 thousand times, and had more than 300 likes and 40 comments.
What the author of the publication says: It was not possible to contact the TikTok profile that made the publication, since the social network does not allow sending messages between profiles that do not follow each other.
How do we check: Comprova started a search for the keywords “Lula” and “vote for Bolsonaro” on Google and found that the same disinformation content found in this check was already analyzed in 2018 by the G1 and also by Rumors.org, both classifying the post as fake.
The verifications cited that the images were originally from an interview by Lula to Rádio Metrópole, from Bahia, carried out in March 2018. Based on this clue, Comprova did a new Google search for “Rádio Metrópole Lula March 2018”. By clicking on the “Videos” tab of the search platform, the original media was found, published on Lula’s official Facebook page.
To ensure that it was the same video, a comparison of clothing and framing was made and, through the gestures of the politician, it was possible to arrive at the clipped section used in the montage. From there, an analysis was made of the statements contained in the original interview and in the excerpt that went viral again on social networks, in which Lula supposedly declares his vote for Bolsonaro.
Comprova also sought a position from the press office of former President Lula and spoke with the forensic expert, professor and specialist in multimedia materials Mauricio de Cunto, from the company Fonolab.
Assembly is from 2018
The same content checked in this verification already circulated in 2018. The original recording is from an interview given by Lula to radio broadcaster Mário Kertész, in March of that year, to Rádio Metrópole de Salvador.
THE full interviewwith 43 minutes and 12 seconds, can be found on the PT profile on Facebook, as posted on March 6, 2018. On that occasion, Lula made a live broadcast on his social network.
Right at the beginning of the interview, PT was asked about the real possibilities of being able to register, at the time, his candidacy for the presidency of the Republic with the Electoral Justice. In parts of the conversation, the politician points out that his possible opponents in the dispute were afraid to face him at the polls, as they understood that he would certainly take the election to the second round, with a great chance of being victorious.
“I want to be a candidate because I am innocent. And I hope the Justice proves my innocence until the day I register my candidacy”, said Lula, at the time. the PT was arrested by the Federal Police a month later, on April 7, 2018, to serve a sentence related to the Guarujá triplex case. In January 2022, however, the court closed the case.
According to the analysis carried out by Comprova, it is possible to observe, from lip reading and body gestures, that the excerpt used in the content found here comprises the period from 36:52 to 37:09 of the interview. In the original video, Lula says the following: “[…] Who want to live. It’s not possible that people don’t realize… And you know more than I do, I’m not making promises. I am telling you that it is entirely possible for us to make this country happy again, to believe in Brazil, to produce more, to eat more, to earn more and for everyone to live happily.”
In the 31-second montage, the audio superimposed on the images brings the following statements: “To move our country forward and, if something goes wrong, tomorrow or the day after there will be an election again. God willing, until then, I’ll come back, compete and show you how it’s done. Let’s not waste time voting for other candidates, our candidate has to be Bolsonaro. I never imagined that one day I would say this, but there is no other solution, my comrades”.
The material was sent by Comprova to the forensic expert, professor and specialist in multimedia materials Mauricio de Cunto, from the company Fonolab. With decades of experience in content analysis similar to the one verified here, the professor says that there is no doubt about the montage. He quotes the phrase added to the end of the video [Lul4 diz votar em Bolsonaro e seus eleitores] as a clear example of editing and points out that, when there is an obvious intervention, as is the case with the phrase accompanied by children’s illustrations, there can also be countless others, albeit more discreet.
Other elements were listed by the specialist as evidence of false content. For him, the lack of synchronization, the low quality of the audio, in addition to the short time of the video are typical characteristics of pieces of disinformation that circulate on the internet.
The verified video also presents the insertion of two figures with the number 22 in the center, alluding to the number of the Liberal Party, of which President Jair Bolsonaro is affiliated. The figures are not present in the original recording.
As for the voice used in the montage, Cunto lists three possibilities. The most likely, for him: the voice would be that of an imitator of Lula. There would also be the possibility of the voice being that of the ex-president, but in a speech taken out of context or from a combination of several single words to form the intended sentence. The professor explains that the confirmation of authorship would depend on a much more in-depth and extensive analysis, but that identification becomes unnecessary, since, according to him, the montage is clear and there is no sense in saying that a statement like this came from of an opponent of Bolsonaro.
In 2018, PT released a note clarifying that the play was a montage made four months after the interview was broadcast. The party also stated that “the disseminators of fake news, knowing that the audio/video synchronization was ridiculous, started to also spread only the audio”.
Finally, he reiterated that “Lula would never ask Bolsonaro for a vote”.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content that went viral on social media about the covid-19 pandemic, public policies of the federal government and presidential elections. This time, the uninformative piece deals with an alleged support of Lula to Jair Bolsonaro – candidate and pre-candidate for the presidency of the Republic, respectively, in the October election of this year. False and misleading content is harmful to the democratic process because it undermines the voter’s right to make their choice based on facts, not rumors and misinformation.
Other checks on the topic: The content targeted by this verification had already gone viral in 2018 and, at the time, was classified as false in a survey by the Fact or Fake from the G1 portal and denied by Rumors.org.
With this year’s electoral process approaching, the number of disinformation content circulating on social networks grows, especially involving pre-candidates for the presidency, such as Lula. Comprova has already found that post lies when trying to associate Lula and Manuela D’Ávila with stabbing Bolsonarowhat is false that Lula and the president-elect of Colombia want to force people to share houses with other families and what is fake video that tries to link Lula’s son to Petrobras and fuel increase.
Investigated by: Grupo Sinos, BandNews FM and CBN Cuiabá. Verified by: CNN Brasil, Metrópoles, Folha de S. Paulo, Piauí, O Estado de S. Paulo, Correio Braziliense, Plural Curitiba, SBT, SBT News, O Povo, Nexo, O Dia and A Gazeta.
Source: CNN Brasil
