• Price adjustment brings the topics of economy and infrastructure to the top of the debate about the 2022 elections;
• Debate about the increase goes beyond the economic effects for citizens and reignites the discussion about the public role of Petrobras;
• The profiles of @jairbolsonaro, @cirogomes and @sf_moro were not among the major groups with the most engagement in the debate on Twitter.

The increase in fuel prices in Brazil has had strong repercussions on social networks in the past few days. There were 1.05 million mentions to the topic on Twitter between March 9 and 15, according to a study by the Department of Public Policy Analysis at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV DAPP) The moment with the most engagement in the debate happened on Friday (11), when it reached 367.6 thousand tweets, with viral posts lamenting the 116% increase in gas prices since the start of the current administration. On the previous day, the indignation of users at the inertia of the Brazilian population regarding the price adjustments also mobilized the platform, generating a peak of 198.5 thousand posts.

Evolution of the debate about fuel prices on Twitter
Period: March 9 to 15

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

Targeting the president, most of the profiles blamed the federal government for the situation, claiming that, before the current administration, Brazilians had more purchasing power because the minimum wage had a higher value and prices were more reasonable, both of gasoline and cooking gas and of basic products. The most used hashtag in the debate was #forabolsonaro (out Bolsonaro), with 8.1 thousand posts on the platform. Another hashtag that stood out was #tamuitocaro (it’s too expensive), in 7.6 thousand tweets, which followed posts made by Ciro Comes and his supporters, who criticized the federal government for the increase in fuel prices.

Twitter

Map of interactions in the debate about fuel prices on Twitter
Period: March 9 to 15

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

Red – 25.19% of profiles | 33.73% of interactions
The most numerous group, led by left-wing politicians, political activists, journalists and comic profiles. The posts compared the increase in fuel prices with past circumstances such as gas prices in previous administrations and public transport fare adjustments. The posts also attributed the current situation to the privatization of distributors.

Blue – 16.29% of profiles | 23.91% of interactions
Group composed of conservative politicians, journalists and entrepreneurs supporting the federal government. They highlighted measures taken by the government to try to minimize the increase in fuel prices and criticized the state governments, who are allegedly acting against the federal government. There were also those claiming that the current situation is a consequence of the corruption in previous governments.

Pink – 6.42% of profiles | 4.09% of interactions
Group with profiles of common users with viral posts and sharing memes comparing personal expenses with gasoline to demonstrations of love and popular products. Some posts also commented on the reaction of Brazilians regarding the increase in gasoline prices, remembering the popular demonstrations that marked June 2013.

Orange – 5.57% of profiles | 4.22% of interactions
Group composed of researches, political activists and bloggers, who showed their indignation at the increase in fuel prices and lamented its impact in the daily lives of Brazilians. In addition, the profiles mocked liberal ideas, claiming that those defending that agenda should not complain about the situation.

Green – 5.44% of profiles | 3.98% of interactions
Group composed of digital influencers, researchers and bloggers, who mapped gasoline prices in different regions of the country and compared the values to the purchasing power of Brazilians, including in previous administrations. Some posts reinforced the importance of this year’s elections.

Yellow – 4.51% of profiles | 2.96% of interactions
Group composed of common user profiles who highlighted the impact of the increase in fuel prices, demonstrating pessimism regarding the gasoline price and its potential future ramifications. The posts also demanded action from the population, mainly targeting the federal government.

Purple – 4.33% of profiles | 2.9% of interactions
Group composed of common user profiles in the centered around a viral post in the context of the fuel price increase that jocked about offering someone a ride as a demonstration of love.

Major tweets inside the groups in the map of interactions
Period: March 9 to 15

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

Evolution topics with mentions to presidential hopefuls on Twitter
Total period: March 2 to 15 | Analysis period: March 9 to 15

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

• In the debate about the 2022 elections, the economy topic had a sharp peak of mentions on March 11, the day after the announcement of the increase in fuel prices. The highlights were tweets of profiles aligned with the presidential hopefuls Lula, Ciro Gomes and Sergio Moro.
• The increase in fuel prices generate a wave of criticism against the government, which, starting from March 12, also included isolated tweets of pro-Bolsonaro profiles commenting on governmental fiscal proposals and initiatives to try the contain the price hike.
• The increase also prompted mentions to the topic of infrastructure based on a debate about the role of Petrobras in this context. The highlights were tweets criticizing the price policy adopted since the presidential term of Michel Temer (MDB) in 2016. There is a dispute between supporters of Ciro Gomes and Lula about which of the two presidential hopefuls brought this topic to the public debate first in the context of the 2022 elections.

Volume and variation of mentions to topics in the debate about the 2022 elections
Period: March 9 to 15 | Comparison to March 2 to 8

Source: Twitter | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

• The economy took the lead among the most mentioned topics in the electoral debate, surpassing the debate about security.
• The infrastructure topic saw the highest variation regarding the previous week, growing more than 200%. The association between the increase in fuel prices and the debate about infrastructure shows that the price adjustment was immediately incorporated into the political debate, becoming a criticism of the administration, strategy and role of Petrobras regarding the Brazilian State.
• It was also interesting to note that the increase in mentions to infrastructure also marks a change in position among the predominant views in this topic, which so far had been dominated by pro-government profiles commenting about inaugurations of infrastructure works, particularly in the Northeast region.

Volume of interactions in major news articles about fuel prices
Period: March 9 to 15

Source: Twitter and Facebook | Elaborated by: FGV DAPP

Among the fifteen profiles with the most engagement on Facebook and Twitter (including likes, comments and shares), the highlights were news published by traditional media outlets with details about the fuel price adjustments and about how some Brazilians have tried to circumvent the situation. In addition, almost half the links were published by alternative media portals informing about measures taken by the federal government to minimize the price increase and offering explanations to blame previous administrations or state governments for the current fuel crisis in the country.