A WhatsApp channel built around President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's runoff campaign grew to about 11 million subscribers in three weeks and is being credited by allies with helping him overtake Flávio Bolsonaro, BBC and Al Jazeera reported^1,2,3.

Lula finished behind the right-wing challenger in the first round, then won a close runoff for a fourth term^1,2,3. Al Jazeera said the channel, Exercito do Lula, or Lula's Army, had about 60,000 followers after the first round and nearly 11 million by election day². BBC put the peak at 10.8 million¹.

Congressman André Janones ran the channel, assigning supporters videos, hashtags and recruiting tasks^1,2. Al Jazeera said he had also worked on Lula's 2022 digital operation after dropping his own presidential bid². BBC said some Workers' Party figures worried his confrontational style could clash with a more moderate campaign image¹.

Viktor Chagas of Fluminense Federal University told Al Jazeera that Janones used tactics similar to those associated with Bolsonaro-aligned networks, including urgent messages, memes and, at times, negative material². BBC said conservative networks had long been seen as stronger on WhatsApp and Telegram¹.

At a São Paulo victory event on Oct. 25, Lula called Janones 'our general' and thanked him for lifting campaign morale, Al Jazeera reported². BBC described the same thanks in Lula's victory remarks¹.

Both outlets noted that measuring how much online mobilization changed votes is uncertain^1,2. Independent proof that the channel decided the runoff was not established in the reporting^1,2.