An orientation by Secom (Special Secretariat for Social Communication) on the dissemination of content during the electoral period has generated criticism from diplomats, who fear impacts on the services provided to Brazilians who depend on embassies and consulates to, for example, issue documents.
At the end of this week, Itamaraty oriented representations to suspend the use of their social networks until the end of the October election. Rules on content management on mission sites were also passed on. A file sent to the posts called for “very urgent measures” to adapt the ministry’s communication “to the restrictions imposed by electoral legislation”.
“By express instruction from Secom — and in compliance with recent jurisprudence and guidance from the AGU Electoral Chamber [Advocacia-Geral da União]—, the current social media accounts of the posts must be suspended until the end of the electoral closed period [30 de outubro, caso haja segundo turno]”, says the statement. “The current accounts must be replaced, until June 30, by temporary accounts.”
The temporary profiles, according to the guidelines issued to the posts, should only publish “information of direct interest to the citizen, which refers to the provision of service offered by the post”. “Consular offices should, therefore, in their new accounts, limit themselves to publishing the nature of the services offered, the office’s address and opening hours”, the guidance continues.
The telegraphic circular also informs that the social networks of embassies and consulates must prohibit interaction with internet users during the electoral period, remaining closed to comments.
THE Sheet spoke with diplomats abroad, who said they were surprised by the rigidity of the regulations. The biggest complaint is that social networks are today one of the main communication tools of a representation with Brazilians under its jurisdiction. It is through Facebook and Instagram profiles, for example, that these posts inform residents abroad about the services offered, the opening hours of the offices and the holding of courses and cultural activities.
Creating temporary pages, they say, will reduce the reach of published notices, as posts took months — or even years — to reach current numbers of followers on current profiles.
The profiles on social networks of missions abroad already have the notice of deactivation and migration to temporary pages. Some Brazilian consulates have also made temporary pages available on the networks, with a smaller number of followers, while others have not yet activated new profiles.
Guidance, diplomats say, may even hamper preparations for some election tasks. According to reports, different Brazilian consulates were using their social networks to carry out a campaign to get volunteer polling station officials for election day — an effort now hampered, as the pages that had been making the call are expected to be deactivated.
Another point that raises concern is that current networks are an important channel for informing the population abroad about election day procedures, such as voting locations and times. With smaller reach profiles, this type of information can reach a smaller number of people.
Sought after, Itamaraty said that the changes comply with recent jurisprudence of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and that communication with Brazilian citizens abroad will not be interrupted.
“In order to ensure the adequacy of this ministry’s institutional communication activities to the restrictions imposed by the electoral legislation in force, the current Itamaraty social media pages in Portuguese will be temporarily suspended, and temporary social networks will be created immediately after the suspension of the current profiles, so that the communication channel between consulates/embassies and Brazilian citizens abroad will not be interrupted at any time”, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The telegraphic file on the Itamaraty’s institutional communication also says that Secom’s guidelines include the “prohibition of institutional advertising and the suspension of ‘any and all form of disclosure of the federal government’s brand, in advertising or in any communication action for the election period”. The objective is to avoid publications that may configure irregular political propaganda.
“Thus, the permanence of signs or objects that contain expressions or images that may identify the federal government’s brand, including the ‘Pátria Amada Brasil’ brand, as well as authorities, servers or administrations that are in an electoral dispute, constitutes prohibited advertising” , says the note.
Another part of the rule establishes the migration of content from the gas stations’ websites to the gov.br portal. According to the guidance, the new pages will only have “the address of the office, opening hours and forms of contact and access to consular services, when applicable, during the electoral period.”
On Tuesday night (28/6), Secom announced on its social networks a warning that there would be a migration to provisional profiles in which “only content that is unequivocally in accordance with the electoral law will be published, eliminating any possibility of harmful interpretations to the government and to the president.”
“Thus, channels and communication flows with Brazilians are maintained, observing the electoral legislation, protecting the government from unnecessary or unreasonable interpellations and eliminating unnecessary risks to a possible candidacy of the current head of the federal Executive”, said Secom. .
