Men dancing to ‘Infiel’ are not Lula government ministers – 04/04/2023 – Politics

There are misleading posts circulating on social networks associating a video of two men dancing to the song “Infiel”, by Marília Mendonça, with the Ministers of Justice, Flávio Dino, and Defense, José Múcio Monteiro. In the images, recorded in a bar, the duo performs around a pool table. One of the pieces of misinformation inserts the phrase “Minister of Defense giving a show at a barbecue” over the images, while the other includes the caption “Dinosaur is excited, huh?!”. “Dinosaur” is the nomenclature that Bolsonarist networks have used to designate Flávio Dino.

The video, as verified by Projeto Comprova, is from 2017 and was made at the bar Amigos de Farra, in Prainha de Grossos, in Rio Grande do Norte. In addition to being possible, from the images, to identify that they are not the ministers, to Comprova, the owner of the bar denied the presence of any minister in the place and indicated the name of one of the men who appears in the video. The bar goer falsely identified as Flávio Dino is, in fact, Nelson Filho, radio host from the Potiguar municipality of Mossoró. He himself confirmed the information and added that, at the time, he was accompanied by a friend, who is not even a politician. “That doesn’t even make sense, because he doesn’t even remotely resemble the minister,” he said.

The images of the choreography made by the duo were even shared by Nelson at the time and even ended up on the singer’s official page (dead in 2021) on Facebook – the publication accumulates 4.9 million views.

The press offices of the Ministries of Justice and Defense also denied the information that the people who appear in the video would be the ministers of the respective folders.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning undergoes changes; that uses inaccurate data or that induces an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that is confusing, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. Until March 31, 2023, the post on Telegram had 6.6 thousand views, while the publication on TikTok had 25.3 thousand shares, 24.4 thousand likes and 7.5 thousand comments.

How do we check

First, we searched for “Lula’s ministers dancing in a bar” on Google, which returned with checks from Lupa and Boatos.org. Magnifier’s check found a six-year-old Buzzfeed post about the same video, indicating that the content is old. The text does not identify who the men are, but records that the video went viral on social media at that time.

We also compared the photos of the ministers, available on the websites of the Ministry of Justice and Defense, with prints of the images that show the men dancing. As the quality of the viral video was low, we used the Clicdrop ​​tool to improve the resolution. Then, we put the images side by side, using the Photo Montage website feature.

Although the photos showed little resemblance between them, we contacted the ministries’ press offices, who denied that they were the ministers in the images.

Faced with the negative, we set out to identify the duo that appears in the foreground in the viral content. So we decided to look for clues in the video itself. On the wall of the bar, it was possible to read “Amigos de Farras” and “Bar & Restaurante”.

Based on this identification, we searched for these keywords on Google and found an establishment with the same name located in the so-called “Prainha”, whose images corresponded to those of the viral video scenario. Next to the bar’s address was a cell phone number. From there, we got contact by WhatsApp with the owner, Marcos Antonio Neves Eufrasio.

Eufrasio gave us the name of the man in the white T-shirt who appears dancing and informed us that he was from the city of Mossoró. Next, we did a new Google search for “Nelson Filho Mossoró” and found a text published on a local blog, which outlines a profile of the broadcaster.

Searching for the name of the blog’s author in the same search engine, we arrived at a magazine in the region, in which the blogger acts as a columnist. In contact with the magazine, we got Nelson Filho’s telephone number. By WhatsApp, the man confirmed that he was the person who appears in the viral video, accompanied by a friend.

The video was even shared by Nelson himself and by the official page of the singer Marília Mendonça on Facebook on February 9, 2017. “Adorooooo!!! Aôooo sofrência!!!!!”, wrote the singer’s team with the hashtag # Infidel, name of the song.

What the person responsible for the publication says

The report was unable to contact the Selva Brasil Oficial profile on Telegram, but made contact with the @selvabrasiloficiall profile on Instagram. There was no response as of the publication of this check.

The profile @DodoBarbosa22, responsible for the publication on TikTok, was sought by direct message on Twitter, but did not respond and blocked the journalist.

What can we learn from this check

Disinformation pieces often take advantage of videos with low image quality to mislead people about their identity. Sometimes, the resolution can be deliberately reduced in order to make it difficult to identify the actors.

It is also common for old videos that went viral a long time ago to be exploited again, in other contexts, to spread misinformation.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

This content was also checked by Lupa and by the website Boatos.org. Comprova has already denied other rumors involving the name of Flávio Dino, who has often been the target of misinformers. He has already attested, for example, that the minister did not exempt the government from fighting illegal weapons, contrary to what is said on social networks and that Dino did not meet with criminals.

The investigation of this content was carried out by UOL and Grupo Sinos and published on March 31 by Projeto Comprova, a coalition that brings together 41 vehicles to check viral content. It was verified by Folha, Estadão, A Gazeta and Plural Curitiba.