False: It is a fake video that attributes text with criticism to the former president and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), by comedian Marcelo Madureira, one of the members of the former television program Casseta & Planeta. The actor even published a tweet denying having written the text, which has been circulating on social media since at least 2013.
Investigated Content: Video published on TikTok shows a text attributed to comedian Marcelo Madureira, a member of the former television program Casseta & Planeta, on Rede Globo, with criticism of the former president and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Entitled “Volta, Lula!”, different versions of this content have been published on social networks, at least since 2013. This time, the content goes viral again at the same moment in which the actor declared support for the PT candidate.
where it was published: TikTok.
Completion of Proof: It is false that the actor and comedian Marcelo Madureira is the author of the text “Volta, Lula!”, with a series of criticisms of the PT. On the 9th of October, the artist posted a tweet denying authorship of the content. “A text attributed to me, called “Volta, Lula!”, circulated on the internet again. I mean this text is NOT mine. I have never published or shared this material,” she said. In 2016, the same content was attributed to Madureira, as shown by Boatos.org, which debunked the rumor at the time. The text also appeared, in 2013, on Facebook, but without attributed authorship.
Falsefor Comprova, is all content invented or that has undergone edits to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a falsehood.
Scope of publication: The target post of the check had 708,600 views and almost 32,800 likes, 1,752 comments on Tik Tok as of October 21, 2022. The post also had 45,800 shares on WhatsApp.
What does the publisher say?: Through TikTok, Comprova tried to contact the person responsible for publishing the video on the social network. However, the platform allows only accounts that follow each other to send messages to each other, which made it impossible to contact the author of the post. The profile was also found on Instagram, but did not return to contact attempts.
Comprova also contacted the profile that published the text on Facebook in 2013, in what appears to be the first time the content was published on the social network, but received no response.
How do we check: Comprova looked, first, for official statements by Madureira himself and found the publication in which he denies that he is the author of the verified content and complains about the fact that this misinformation has been circulating for years. We also looked for other occurrences of the text on social networks to try to identify the real author, but none of the publications provide this information.
The video
A text entitled “Come back, Lula!” It has been circulating on social networks since at least 2013. In the following years, its authorship began to be attributed to Marcelo Madureira. The content brings a series of criticisms to the governments of former President Lula, with allegations about monthly allowance, transposition of the São Francisco River, SUS, Petrobras and other topics that are usually present in the speeches of PT’s opponents.
In the analyzed publication, the text is released in a video, on TikTok, but, before, it circulated on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It is not always written in the same way and has undergone changes over the years, with the inclusion of themes that have been inserted in the anti-PT discourse.
In 2016, for example, Boatos.org verified a text that, unlike what was analyzed here, had a reference to former judge Sergio Moro (União Brasil), now elected senator for Paraná.
Marcelo Madureira denies
Although it has circulated in every year since 2013, the content went viral again this month at the same time that Madureira declared support for Lula. The actor had already denied that he would have written the text, but had to speak again to deny it.
When denying his link with the text, Madureira added that he had already criticized the PT, but that, today, he supports Lula’s election. “Although I have already criticized the PT, today it is necessary to join forces so that the Bolsonaro government does not remain in 2023. Precisely for this reason and for defending democracy, I will vote for Lula in this second round”, he wrote.
On the 10th of October, Madureira was in São Paulo to declare support for the former president in the 2022 elections.
Lula even published a photo with the actor, accompanied by the caption: “Broad front for democracy and against Bolsonaro with Marcelo Madureira”. The support surprised the actor’s followers on social media, due to his vote for Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the 2018 election.
In 2019, however, the comedian had already taken a stand against the current president of the Republic. In protest against the project that toughened punishments for situations of abuse of authority, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Madureira was even expelled from a sound car for criticizing Bolsonaro. “I’m not afraid of boos. I voted for Bolsonaro and I will criticize whenever necessary,” he said at the time.
Content has a misleading claim
In addition to common criticisms of opponents of former President Lula, the text checked by Comprova also contains a misleading allegation. The message says that Lula would have donated two oil refineries to Bolivia, which is misleading.
As already shown by check agencies (Estadão Check, to the facts), Petrobras received two installments of US$ 56 million to transfer control of the facilities to the government of Evo Morales. The refineries were purchased by Brazil in 1999, for US$ 102 million.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content about the pandemic, public policies of the federal government and the presidential elections that go viral on social media. False or misleading publications involving presidential candidates, such as the video verified here, can lead to misinterpretations of reality and influence voters at the time of voting. Citizens have the right to base their choices on true and reliable information.
Other checks on the topic: O Rumors.org denied for the second time that the text was written by Marcelo Madureira. The first verification was carried out in 2016when the same content went viral.
The Comprova Project has already proved to be a montage of a tweet attributed to Jair Bolsonaro with mention of ending the holiday of Our Lady Aparecida. It also proved to be false that Lula had advocated the use of lies in politics. Furthermore, it has been shown that there are misleading content circulating about BNDES loans during the former president’s administrations.
Investigated by: Alma Preta, O Popular, Imirante.com and Estado de Minas; Verified by: A Gazeta, CBN Cuiabá, Estado de S.Paulo, Correio, O Dia, CNN Brasil and Folha de S.Paulo
Source: CNN Brasil