How an extremist network articulated a hoax linking Brazil’s President Lula to child abuse on X
Distortion in the meaning of a speech by Lula about prostate cancer exams went viral within hours and fed conspiracy theories amid a tight presidential race in Brazil.
On September 28 and 29, 2026, a series of events unfolded involving the misuse of X's AI tool, Grok, to spread a hoax linking Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to child abuse. Prior to the first round of the general elections on October 4, far-right users manipulated Grok to produce statements accusing Lula of possessing child pornography.
This false narrative gained traction within hours of Lula's speech about preventive exams for prostate cancer, in which he criticized men's reluctance to undergo such tests. The distortion began when an influencer, Pâm, shared a cut from Lula's statement on September 28, sparking a backlash accusing him of promoting pedophilia. Within minutes, other users echoed this claim, escalating the misinformation campaign.
The false accusation was attributed to a "pedophilia bubble" of anonymous profiles, known as the "bolha da resenha," which manipulated Grok to generate statements associating Lula with child abuse. This narrative was amplified through various posts urging the spread of the claim and suggesting that influencers join the effort to make it go viral.
Despite Grok's warning that the claim was wordplay and lacked evidence, the accusations continued to spread, with 43% of analyzed posts containing straightforward accusations or promoting their propagation.
Written by urgent.news from Global Voices Brazil's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
