Oct 19, 2018

WhatsApp bans Brazilian frontrunner Bolsonaro’s son amid fake news fears

Diego Rodriguez

The son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right frontrunner in Brazil's Oct. 28 presidential runoff, has demanded an explanation after being banned from WhatsApp amid a controversy over fake news on the Facebook-owned platform.

Why it matters: Representatives of Whatsapp told The Guardian that several accounts had been banned to fight the distribution of fake news. Newspaper Folha du São Paulo reports that Bolsonaro backers paid to illegally distribute mass WhatsApp texts. After denouncing WhatsApp's "persecution," Flavio Bolsonaro later said his account had been reactivated.

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