Glenn Waldorf

Literally enlisting people in using growth hacking tactics *against* the networks themselves. I don't know that this is replicable, I don't know how this changes down the line against an adversary who might be even more brazen in their interference, but it worked this time.

What's striking to me are the rules of engagement and the methodology of action here, which more or less is predicated on burying liberal delusions about "debate" or the "marketplace of ideas". The rules were ultimately very simple: amplify your own message and suppress your opponent's.

At one point he had a Whatsapp group with 10 million people in it, coordinating action. Which I didn't even think whatsapp was infrastructurally designed to support. And yes, whatsapp is of course a meta network, but the strategy was to be everywhere, to act redundantly, to be unbannable.

And credit to him, it worked. A sort of digital levee en masse, literally raising an army to counteract the forces that artificially amplify far-right messaging. He did that through organizing and messaging, both on the streets and online, that was so relentless that he put himself in the hospital.

Probably the guy who's going to come out of this one looking like a hero is André Janones, a deputy (congressman) from Minas Gerais who just kind of... decided to take the reins of the situation, more or less, and people were feeling so aimless after the first round that they went along with it.

I don't know that there is a template or a "secret sauce" or a clear-cut lesson to take from this. But if there is one it's the idea of treating social media as the hostile territory that it is, of actually acting like you are a participant in propaganda warfare and not like a consumer.

What is true is that this was a conflict—and make no mistake, this was a conflict; this was a protracted battle in a hybrid war, more than anything—that was largely fought by large numbers of people laboriously working to unfuck the nation's informational environment.

Maybe the fascists overplayed their hand; both domestic news media and foreign social media didn't so much put a thumb on the scale as elbow it from the rafters, and maybe people finally saw that. I don't know.

I spent all day writing the thread in my head about how Bolsonaro's win was the culmination of a 20-year project to end Brazilian democracy, with the participation of both domestic elites and foreign actors like the US state department and Meta. This is all true, of course, except he didn't win.

The mobilization itself was already not something I ever expected to see, but to actually win? Hell, to double the winning margin from the 2022 runoff? Genuinely surreal. Maybe child raping billionaires *don't* have to run the world with a shit-eating grin. Maybe that can stop.

I live in a downtown area of São Paulo so I see every march and every protest up close and they had more people on Avenida Paulista two weeks ago than I have ever seen. And then they did that again yesterday. *Right now,* spontaneously, just celebrating, there's a huge crowd.

Genuinely I don't know that it comes across to people who haven't been here to watch how almost unbelievable this was, just people taking something that looked impossible and dragging it kicking and screaming all the way to inevitability.

Pro-Lula Brazilians doing en masse digital organizing against the platforms is interesting. Basically took website/influencer growth hacking techniques—eg everyone go like/comment/share this, get the algorithm to pick it up—and applied them to electoral politics at a grand scale. Thread:

Some ground rules that have helped us: - Go outside your bubble, try new social media channels - Don’t underestimate the power of WhatsApp (although less so in the U.S.) - Post on the Instagram grid, not just stories - Watch every Instagram video until the end before sharing - IGNORE THEM

After the first round elections, Congressman André Janones created a WhatsApp channel titled “Lula’s Army.” It ballooned to 10 million people following his commands on how to behave online to counteract Meta’s far-right-favouring algorithms. The right knows how to use socials. We must learn, too.

I’m not a political journalist, so was gladly surprised at the community I found here last night. To Americans anxious about the upcoming elections, a key thing we learned in Brazil that might help you: DO NOT engage with the far-right online. Don’t share rage bait. Amplify your people. Ignore them.

Note: In 2016 Trump won with the help of coordinated messaging amplified by bots. He still relies on that coordinated messaging, tho the Epstein schism undermined that some. But this SEEMS to say you don't stay off Xitter and Facebook--you coordinate to game it.

Apparently there's an Attorney-Client dispute in SPLC. Reminder that DOJ has violated Jim Comey's Attorney-Client privilege twice, that we know of, and I suspect, a third time. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Incidentally, Chris Hilton is the lawyer who represents Elon Musk in his defamation lawsuit against Media Matters. Musk is the single largest political donor to Paxton and has repeatedly attacked Talarico on the transgender issue in recent weeks.

To clarify, Texas Transgender Student Union is the bogus anonymous LLC registered in Wyoming, not the real transgender advocacy group it attempted to impersonate.

This is the same Chris Hilton who was ultimately forced out of the OAG amid sexual harassment allegations. www.texastribune.org/2025/05/28/j...

NEW: Transgender Texas Student Union has retained counsel in response to the Travis County filing related to the fake transgender mailers. It's Chris Hilton, who previously worked for Ken Paxton at the Texas Attorney General's office and left temporarily to defend Paxton in his impeachment trial.

which, given that my suggestion is to effectively ban online gambling, would make the sentence incoherent

i like that the big divide on this post is whether people read it, correctly, as "*run explicitly* on banning online gambling" or whether they ignored the modifying verb and adverb and read it as "i don't think anyone should ban online gambling"

1. Lose election 2. Assume Trump will steal election for him 3. Trump is flailing around and failing to steal his own election 4. Oh shit oh fuck

This beautiful, surreal film is a masterpiece of stop motion. It's one of the very best by director Hermína Týrlová. Our new issue looks into The Blue Apron, and into Týrlová's love of putting life into mundane objects: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/an-invisib...

Be warned. Here be real monsters... --- Putting A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors into the context of Reagan's "Troubled Teen Industry" took a lot out of me, but I think it was worth it. medium.com/@philbrucato...

With Halloween approaching, New York dogs have already put their best paws forward at the 36th annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. #halloween #dog #halloweendogparade #tompkinssquarepark #newyork

Alaska authorities strongly oppose the Trump DOJ’s attempted “interference” in the election. This is significant because there were concerns the state—which sought to DQ the second Sullivan—would take the same side. But it didn’t. Quite the contrary. buff.ly/EJHtDpX

Wow! I was not expecting that.

“US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, & some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration” I have been genuinely surprised at the speed & magnitude of RFK Jr’s dismantling of vaccination in the US 😢

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, and experts warn that uncertainty may continue for years after major blows to vaccination efforts under the Trump administration. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

HHS wants a new Medicare code that pays doctors extra only when they attribute a patient’s symptoms to a vaccine. Vaccine critics say doctors are paid to push vaccines. We aren’t. Under this code, we’d be paid to blame them. My new piece in @cidrap.bsky.social: www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

RFK Jr. is not even close to being done with destroying public health. Republican Congresspeople are 100% behind him in this effort. Vote for public health.

Spelled out more explicitly: the people most likely to die of the flu, covid, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, etc, are the people who now cannot easily access the necessary PREVENTIONS. This is an intentionally murderous policy (or lack thereof). Bubonic Bobby needs to be fired and held accountable.

At face, the lack of an ACIP board seems like a DC red tape thing, but this is a sneaky eugenics effort. When vaccines are not recommended by ACIP, they are not covered by insurance or available for free through Medicaid…meaning the most physically and financially vulnerable don’t have access.

These assholes wouldn’t be caught dead at Cheesecake Factory or anywhere that didn’t have a Michelin rating

Nothing funnier than DC republicans, the fucking elite of the elite, pretending to take umbrage on behalf of Joe Sixpack in flyover country

complete silence.

i know legacy media people follow me.

you can msg me on signal or email if you don’t want to hash it out here. but i need to know.

i am inviting anyone from a legacy media organization to explain to me why the house judiciary dems report on trump’s epstein’s ties and multiple allegations of rape isn’t worthy of extensively reporting on. i’m serious. i want to understand.

Gonna guess it's the feckless cowards vs complicit propagandists dilemma

Told ya

Corporate imperialism

Solar is the future

Donald Trump is a rapist pedophile

Bill C-39 is a fundamental attack on our constitutional rights. We will not stay silent as Carney’s Liberal government violates our human rights. Standing in solidarity against Bill C-39 with Indigenous leaders, unions, environmental activists. Winnipeg Centre knows how to fight back.

Where are the wessels? youtu.be/MdSJFrhb-HM?...