General strategy is to take advantage of the outrage over illegal discounts to increase visibility with the positive agenda and calibrate an electoral discourse for 2026
The one is “pop”. Created in the wake of the revelation of fraud against retirees and pensioners, the collegiate’s audience is on the rise, which has made deputies and senators explore the work in plenary for self-promotion on social media. The general strategy is to take advantage of the outrage over illegal discounts to increase visibility with the positive agenda and calibrate an electoral discourse for 2026.
CPI members, both members and substitutes, are entitled to ten minutes that can be used as they wish, whether to ask questions to those called, speak against or in favor of the government or show photos and videos that they consider relevant.
With an eye on “cuts” to the internet, congressmen have resorted to inflated speeches, shouting, and performances with the right target: captivating the voting public in their state of origin. Without disguising it, there are deputies who ask for the floor while already wearing their own microphone on their lapel. Next to him, an advisor is in charge of recording the scene with his cell phone that will later be disseminated on the politician’s social networks. Some broadcast their participation live and others speak directly to the camera that frames them in the official Senate broadcast.
The advisors’ assessment is that the audience for broadcasts on the official channels of the Chamber and the Senate, interactions on official profiles and even the volume of phone calls to offices during sessions indicate high popular interest in the CPI’s developments.
The audience for committee meetings on the Senate YouTube channel far exceeds other meetings held in recent months. The long-awaited testimony of Carlos Antônio Camilo Antunes, identified as the central figure in the investigated scheme, had 838 thousand views. The deliberative sessions of the Senate plenary have around 10 to 15 thousand views.
The exhibition has already begun to bear fruit. The president of the CPI, senator (Podemos-MG), and the rapporteur, deputy Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL), who have free time for interventions, saw an increase in the number of followers on their official internet profiles. In June, Gaspar was followed by 218 thousand on Instagram. In September, there are 360 thousand. Viana had 136 thousand followers. Now, 234 thousand. The rapporteur has plans to run for the Senate in 2026. The president wants re-election.
The stance of parliamentarians during meetings, with a view to generating excerpts that will be cut to measure for the networks, is usually a reason for discussion. The rapporteur adopted the strategy of conducting his interrogation standing up, with the help of the screen in the committee room that displays his own logo: “Alfredo Gaspar at CPI do INSS”.
Deputy Alencar Santana (PT-SP) complained about the stance. “I’m sure he will use this on the social network, wanting to advertise. He is using the CPI to carry out electoral propaganda”, he said. At the next meeting, the rapporteur provoked the PT member: “I wanted to say that, at the request of the PT, I had my logo improved”.
Not only the conduct in the plenary, but the publications themselves have already become the subject of the CPI. Deputy Coronel Chrisóstomo (PL-RO) used his official profile to say that government officials “shielded criminals” by rejecting applications. The coordinator of the government bench at the CPI, Paulo Pimenta (PT-RS), took the printed posts and a fight broke out. “It’s not going to be ‘Sergeant Brush’ who’s going to come here and shout and think he can intimidate someone by distributing lies on the internet,” said the PT member.
The opposition came to Chrisóstomo’s defense and promised to endorse his publication. “The 19 who voted against, all linked to the government, must be held accountable. Today, I even make a point of talking later on my networks who voted and how, once again”, said deputy Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS).
Chrisóstomo is one of the most vocal at the microphone and does not spare the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). On social media, he often posts videos of his interventions, sometimes filmed from different angles. One of its most popular is introduced with a title in bold letters: “PTista freaks out when it is said that Lula’s government is tainted by corruption”. The recording was made during the testimony of businessman Fernando Cavalcanti, who had refused to answer questions.
“They’ve already done this in the Mensalão, in the BNDES, and now this government is doing this with the old people of our country. They don’t like working, they like other people’s money. I’m from Rondônia, the people there like the right things”, he shouted. The video had 128 thousand views. Reelected in 2022 with 24,400 votes, the deputy is in his second term.
Seeking re-election, the parliamentarian admits that the topic of the INSS scheme has attracted an unprecedented spotlight on him. “People ask for photos to take a photo with me when I arrive in Porto Velho. It’s because of the CPI”, he commented.
The president of the CPI, Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), has already identified the desire for the spotlight and has reiterated that he will not allow the commission to become a “stage” and “disrespect towards anyone”.
Viana himself, in turn, has explored the increased visibility. On the networks, he publishes cuts of his interventions, accompanied by a soundtrack. In addition, he presents a police program on TV Alterosa, shown in Minas Gerais. On Mondays, even though he is in Brasília, he goes to a studio in the central area of the federal capital to go live. On air, he gives his opinions on the parliamentary investigation. “I’m not going to keep quiet. They’re trying to stop, but they won’t be able to. As long as it’s up to me, we’ll go until the end”, he said, on television that aired at the end of September.
On Thursdays, due to the volume of activities at the CPI, he is replaced by a presenter in Minas Gerais, but appears commenting on the most relevant things that happened at the commission that day. “We started the morning first with good news: Federal Police in several Brazilian states, search and seizure in the main unions. People we are mentioning here”, said Viana, on the program this last Thursday, 9th.
He also gave more details to the program about the meeting he had with the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) André Mendonça on Wednesday. “I reinforced the request for the arrest of lawyer Nelson Wilians. I asked the minister that even if he does not order the arrest, that the passport be withheld.”
The impact on member visibility is reflected on social media. Deputy Coronel Fernanda (PL-MT), one of the authors of the request to create the CPI, increased the number of followers by 213% between June and September. That month, she had 42.3 thousand followers on Instagram – at the end of the previous month, she reached 132.6 thousand.
As a parliamentarian who is not a member of the committee, deputy Delegado Caveira (PL-PA) has the right to speak for three minutes. He only appears in the room at the end of meetings that take more than eight hours to guarantee content for the networks.
On the day one of those summoned was released, he edited the section in which he requested the immediate arrest of the witness and joined with the president of the work ordering the arrest of Carlos Roberto Ferreira Lopes, president of the National Confederation of Family Farmers and Rural Family Entrepreneurs (Conafer). The content was viewed more than 130 thousand times.
Not only oppositionists increased popularity. PT member Alencar Santana (SP) had a 117% increase in the number of followers between June and September. He had 66.9 thousand followers in August and ended September with 145.5 thousand.
A member of the government’s “shock troops” at the CPI and a supporter of the strategy of personal clashes, Santana often makes direct attacks on members of the opposition during the CPI. One of the main targets is senator Izalci Lucas (PL-DF). “The person who made the amendment ending the re-registration (of members) was precisely Senator Izalci,” he stated, in a video released online in September. This content has more than 700 thousand views.
The attacks on Izalci were carried out again at the CPI last Monday, the 6th, causing new controversy, with widespread exchanges of accusations between members. The president of the commission had to intervene. “I ask the parliamentarians: the questions about party differences, are we going to leave that for next year’s election? Leave that for next year, 2026, because then we will have enough time to be able to talk”, he stated.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nátaly Tenório
