IBGE wants to change communication and centralize government data

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) wants to change the way it informs the Brazilian population about the country’s main data, including GDP and inflation, for example. According to the work plan for 2024, the institute wants to have a program in TV Brasilfrom the federal government, to announce the data collected and analyzed by the “new IBGE”.

The plan also foresees the centralization of data collection and processing in the “new IBGE”, which would be responsible for the architecture of the Sovereign National System of Geoscience, Statistics and Data (Singed)”. The president of the body, Marcio Pochmann, has declared since last year that large internet platforms hold more information about Brazilian citizens than the State itself, which he considers a vulnerability.

Pochmann is a controversial economist, who has already faced allegations of technical interference in data analysis to favor the governments he was part of. In November last year, he even stated that “IBGE produced the information and data, held a press conference and transferred responsibility to the general public through traditional media” and that this had been left behind.

He also stated that the IBGE data production model is of Western origin, while the best current solutions are in the East. The economist has already held meetings with the National Institute of Statistics of China, in which he learned about the economic census that aims to “identify and capture the added value of digital activities”. China is known for its system of social credits based on statistics, which It rewards citizens who act in agreement with the government and restricts access to public services, such as credit and home ownership, for those with low grades.

Contrary to Pochmann’s view, lawyer and expert on freedom of expression, André Marsiglia, does not see it as a problem of national sovereignty that data is in the hands of private companies. “Data sharing is today an inevitable economic reality and, in truth, history shows that its political use is as dangerous or more dangerous when in the hands of the State”.

Daniel Marcelino, data analyst at JOTA, a political and legal analysis and information platform for companies, says that the big challenge is finding a fair way to explore this new wealth that is data. He understands that the excessive concentration of any resource is not considered as beneficial for society, and that this also applies to data and information, which are fundamental to driving the new economy.

The analyst explains that the need for a government to concentrate data on citizens is a complex and multifaceted issue, which involves considerations of security, planning and provision of public services – since, in many cases, the collection and analysis of this information is fundamental to understand the needs of the population and, therefore, to create effective policies and ensure national security.

However, he highlights that the concentration of data can also pose a challenge to privacy and individual rights, requiring a delicate balance between the protection of citizens and the legitimate use of information by the government. “Transparency, control and supervision are key elements to ensure that data concentration is carried out responsibly and in accordance with legal and democratic principles,” he says.

Lives and channels in applications for direct communication with the public

According to the IBGE Work Plan for 2024, changes in the dissemination of the agency’s data are the responsibility of the Information Documentation and Dissemination Center (CDDI). He is placed as responsible for creating the IBGE Digital Podcastthe weekly program on TV Brasilwith the aim of bringing to the population the statistical conclusions and data collected by the institute, through debate with technicians, government authorities and representatives of civil society.

The Brazilian Communications Company (EBC), to which TV Brasil is linked, sent a note to the newspaper The State of S. Paulo, in which it states that the work plan for 2024 “does not foresee the production or broadcasting of a program in partnership with IBGE on the TV Brasil schedule for this period”. The planning was approved in December last year by the company’s Board of Directors.

In addition to the TV program, the creation of WhatsApp and Telegram groups is also listed, as well as the holding of lives on channels created by IBGE on social networks and applications. The objective is to create direct channels in these formats, as they are more widely accessed and because of their sharing characteristics, so that interested parties can receive information in general from IBGE.

The Documentation Center is also responsible for creating IBGE Digital, with the purpose of bringing together all forms of communication from the institute, including texts and videos, with online coverage of actions or events/meetings/seminars/workshops and in partnership with bodies and entities, inside and outside the country. To this end, the plan also foresees the creation of the e-digital working group, whose objective is to bring together the areas to jointly plan national disclosures, with monthly meetings.

The use made of programs and channels

According to Daniel Marcelino, the creation of a weekly program and other communication channels, in itself, would not be a problem. The television attraction could even increase public awareness about the importance of Census data and other research carried out by IBGE and their impact on the formulation of public policies and the distribution of resources.

The analyst, however, warns that it is crucial that the programs present impartial information, avoiding biased interpretations of the data. “Furthermore, it is important that they are accessible and understandable to a wide audience, and discussions must involve diverse perspectives,” he says.

Currently, the dissemination of IBGE data and research is carried out in collective interviews for several press organizations simultaneously and, directly, between the institute’s technicians and journalists. When asked about the maintenance of press conferences in view of the new work plan proposals, IBGE had not commented on the People’s Gazette until the closing of this report.

Technical interference to favor the government

Since last year, Pochmann has been talking about his intentions to change the way the agency disseminates its data. The first announcement took place in November, during Daniel Castro’s inauguration as general coordinator of the Documentation and Information Dissemination Center. Before assuming leadership of the Center, Castro was responsible for the organization’s communications.

At the time, the announcement of the change in the way data was disseminated generated buzz in WhatsApp groups of IBGE employees and technicians, who raised questions about possible interference in the institution’s independence. It wasn’t the first time Pochmann faced such criticism. Between 2007 and 2012, when he presided over the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), suspicions were raised of interference in the technical team to favor the economic indices of the PT administrations – the economist is linked to the most radical wing of the party.

In August 2023, the economist’s own appointment to assume the presidency of the IBGE generated widespread criticism from experts who refuted his theses and even brought discomfort in the government, given statements that the Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet, had not been informed and therefore had to accept his appointment – a personal choice of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), with whom Pochmann is close.

Elena Landau, responsible for the economic program for Tebet’s candidacy for president in 2022, stated that Pochmann did not understand statistics and was not prepared to assume the presidency of IBGE. “It has nothing to do with the line of the Ministry of Planning’s economic team. It is a pure and absolute partisan position,” she said.

In defense of the economist, who is considered to be part of the PT’s most radical wing, the party’s national president, federal deputy Gleisi Hoffman (PT-PR), said on her social networks that Pochmann is a historic intellectual, with a “keen eye for research in the social area”.

National data sovereignty

The IBGE Work Plan for 2024 brings some of the positions that Pochmann has expressed since assuming the presidency of the body. The presentation text discusses the compromise of data sovereignty in Brazil, which would be “imposed by the information revolution, conducted unruly by corporations”. According to IBGE, progress in the “datafication” process favored the formation of a private monopoly that controls the content and data set, its systematization and capture and monetization.

In November last year, Pochmann attacked technology platforms for collecting user data that, according to him, not even the country’s government is aware of. The president of IBGE also stated that Brazil had not yet achieved data sovereignty and that the institute had been working on creating a system to integrate the databases of ministries and other federal administration bodies and companies to “build a system sovereign national”.

In the same sense, the IBGE Work Plan points to a second vulnerability arising from the “huge and growing federal fragmentation of databases, administrative records and research”. According to the document, without establishing a standard of homogeneity, the “dynamics dispersed across different sources and data processing services, restricts operability of use and imposes rework and onerous costs”.

André Marsiglia understands the relevance of the State’s statistical survey, but states that there is no possibility of an impartial reading of this data, neither on his part nor on the part of the corporations. “It is a myth to believe that data does not lend itself to political or ideological interpretation,” he highlights. For this reason, the expert argues that a real and not simulated debate, with sectors of the opposition and with the companies that hold this information, becomes extremely relevant. In this sense, there is a need to broaden the vision and understand that corporations are partners and not enemies – contrary to what the IBGE president’s statements imply.