Brazilian president Lula da Silva has shrugged off the attempts of Meta and Israel to rig Brazil’s presidential election, by shredding rival Flavio Bolsonaro during the latest presidential debate. And Brazilians are loving it so much they’re joining in.

This is huge news from Brazil. The courts have recognized Meta's nefarious efforts to suppress PT content and accelerate Bolsonaro's own, and ruled in Lula's favor with immediate effect: a model of algorithmic accountability to be applied anywhere. https://t.co/5NugHmu0RC

— David Adler (@davidrkadler) October 16, 2026

After Meta admitted suppressing pro-Lula pages and accounts – including Lula’s own – in the run-up to the first round of voting, Bolsonaro took a narrow lead. The far-right candidate – Zionist son of disgraced and jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro – was also helped by paid US and Israeli election-rigging . But no amount of online disinformation can cover up Bolsonaro Jr’s own inability to perform in head to head debates with da Silva.

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Flavio Bolsonaro tried a typical Trumpian tactic in the debate, claiming that 73% of prison inmates voted in the first round for Lula – a lie, since convicted prisoners are not entitled to vote. But rather than fuss with that fact, Lula clapped back that he’d like 100% – including Bolsonaro’s own father, serving 27 years in prison for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election:

Subtitled by Skwawkbox.

What’s your job?

The above was posted by a Brazilian commentator who observed that, “Brazilians are quick with memes!”. He’s right – and Bolsonaro (jr) was about to provide them with a lot more fun.

Apparently not too confident in his own ability to remember his talking points, Bolsonaro had written the Portuguese word for “corrupt” on his palm. But he made the mistake of showing this to viewers. This prompted thousands to treat it as a declaration of Bolsonaro’s profession – and to meme it along with their own job:

‘Nurse’.

‘Teacher’.

‘Doctor’.

‘Designer’.

‘Lawyer’.

Los asesores de Flávio Bolsonaro tuvieron una idea brillante. El candidato se escribió “corrupto” en la mano para atacar a Lula durante el debate televisivo del domingo.

Así nació el huracán de memes: “Cuál es tu profesión”. pic.twitter.com/o6hxx13FNN

— Nacho Lemus (@LemusteleSUR) October 20, 2026

Bolsonaro Sr was named in 2020 as the person “most likely to “who has done the most in the world to advance organized criminal activity and corruption”. It seems many Brazilians think the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.

Despite the US-Israel rigging, da Silva finished less than two points behind the right-wing extremist, with some twenty million people not voting. If da Silva’s unabashed contempt for his rival and the humour spinning out from it bear fruit, there may still be hope for Brazil to avoid fascism in the run-off vote on 25 October.