MIAMI (AP) 鈥 The map was called 鈥淏each Trip鈥 and was blasted out to more than 18,000 members of a public Telegram channel called, in Portuguese, 鈥淗unting and Fishing.鈥
But instead of outdoor recreation tips, the 43 pins spread across the map of Brazil pointed to cities where bus transportation to the capital could be found for what promoters promised would a huge 鈥減arty鈥 on Jan. 8.
鈥淐hildren and the elderly aren鈥檛 invited,鈥 according to the post circulated on the Telegram channel, which has since been removed. 鈥淥nly adults willing to participate in all the games, including target shooting of police and robbers, musical chairs, indigenous dancing, tag, and others.鈥
The post was one of several thinly coded messages circulating on social media ahead of by supporters of looking to restore the far-right leader to power.
It鈥檚 also now a potentially vital lead in a fledgling criminal investigation about how the rampage was organized and how officials missed clues to a conspiracy that, like the two years ago, appears to have been organized and carried out in plain view.
And like the attack in the U.S., the Brazilian riots demonstrate how social media makes it easier than ever for anti-democratic groups to recruit followers and transform online rhetoric into offline action.
On YouTube, rioters livestreaming the mayhem racked up hundreds of thousands of views before a Brazilian judge ordered social media platforms to remove such content. Misleading claims about the election and the uprising also could be found on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.
But even before Sunday's riot, social media and private messaging networks in Brazil were being flooded with calls for one final push to overturn the October election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva 鈥 something authorities appear to have inexplicably missed or ignored.
Most of the online chatter referred to the planned gathering at Brasilia's Three Powers Plaza as 鈥淪elma鈥檚 party鈥 鈥 a play on the Portuguese word for 鈥渟elva,鈥 a battle cry used by Brazil鈥檚 military.
Participants were told to bring their own mask to protect against 鈥減epper pie in the face鈥 鈥 or pepper spray fired by security forces. They also were told to dress in the green and yellow of Brazil鈥檚 flag 鈥 and not the red preferred by Lula's Workers鈥 Party.
鈥淕et ready guests, the party will be a blast,鈥 the widely-circulated post said.
鈥淚t was all in the open,鈥 said David Nemer, a Brazil native and University of Virginia professor who studies social media. 鈥淭hey listed the people responsible for buses, with their full names and contact information. They weren鈥檛 trying to hide anything.鈥
Still, it's unclear to what extent social media was responsible for the worst attack on Brazil鈥檚 democracy in decades. Only a handful of far-right activists showed up at gas terminals and refineries that were also pinpointed on the 鈥淏each Trip鈥 map as locations for demonstrations planned for Sunday.
Bruno Fonseca, a journalist for Agencia Publica, a digital investigative journalism outlet, has tracked the online activities of pro-Bolsonaro groups for years. He said the activists live in a state of constant confrontation but sometimes, their frequent calls to mobilize fall flat.
鈥淚t's difficult to know when something will jump out from social media and not,鈥 said Fonseca, who in a report this week traced the spread of the 鈥淪elma's Party鈥 post to users who appear to be bots.
Still, he said, authorities could have paired the online activity with other intelligence-gathering tools to investigate, for example, a surge in bus traffic to the capital before the attacks. He said their inaction may reflect negligence or the deep support for Bolsonaro among security forces.
One gnawing question is why, on the day of the chaos, Anderson Torres, a Bolsonaro ally who had just been named the top security official in Brasilia, was reportedly in Florida 鈥 where his former boss was on a retreat. Torres was swiftly fired and Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered his arrest pending an investigation. Torres denied any wrongdoing and said he would return to Brazil and present his defense.
Sunday's violence came after Brazilian voters were bombarded by a flood of false and misleading claims . Much of the content focused on unfounded concerns about electronic voting, and some featured threats of violent retaliation if Bolsonaro was defeated.
One of the most popular rallying cries used by Bolsonaro's supporters was #BrazilianSpring, a term coined by former Trump aide Steve Bannon in the hours after Bolsonaro's defeat to Lula.
鈥淲e all know that this Brazilian election was going to be contentious,鈥 said Flora Rebello Arduini, a London-based campaign director with SumOfUs, a nonprofit that before and after Brazil鈥檚 election. 鈥淪ocial media platforms played a vital role in amplifying far-right extremist voices and even calls for violent uprising. If we can identify this kind of content, then so can they (the companies). Incompetence is not an excuse.鈥
Brazil鈥檚 capital city steeled itself Wednesday for the fueled by social media posts, including one circulating on Telegram calling for a 鈥渕ega protest to retake power.鈥 But those protests fizzled.
In response to the criticism, spokespeople for Telegram, YouTube and Facebook said their companies were working to remove content urging more violence.
鈥淭elegram is a platform for free speech and peaceful protest,鈥 Telegram spokesman Remi Vaughn wrote in a statement to the AP. 鈥淐alls to violence are explicitly forbidden and dozens of public communities where such calls were being made have been blocked in Brazil in the past week 鈥 both proactively as per our Terms of Service as well as in response to court orders.鈥
A YouTube spokeswoman said the platform has removed more than 2,500 channels and more than 10,000 videos related to the election in Brazil.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has prioritized efforts to combat harmful content about Brazil's election, a company spokesman told The Associated Press.
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Klepper reported from Washington, D.C.
