Sunday (8) was marked by the shameful invasions of Congress, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and Planalto. Now, there is a mobilization on social networks to identify the terrorists who participated in the acts. But you have to be careful with that. In the Boston Marathon bombing, for example, a similar move made an innocent man guilty.
Identifying the terrorists in Brasilia does not seem to be a difficult task. Many of them posted photos and videos of their actions on social networks and messaging services such as Telegram. But the search also includes invaders who appear in these materials indirectly or in images recorded by the press.
This is a job for the police authorities. However, the indignation with the destruction promoted by the invaders has made many people use social networks to identify the terrorists on their own.
On Twitter, a publication with images of the invaders compiled by the profile Prints Bolsonaristas was widely publicized. The message is accompanied by several responses with videos and photos of other people who participated in the invasions or, at the very least, appeared to be in them.
Mobilization seems to be greater on Instagram. There, the profile Brazilian counter-coup gathered more than 875 thousand followers until the publication of this news. The description of the profile makes its objective clear: “Profile for the identification of criminals who attack democracy in Brazil!”.
The images posted by Contragolpe Brasil have names and cities of origin of the individuals that appear in them. The profile has been facing problems, however. For unclear reasons, the account has been having trouble making new posts and replying to messages.
In any case, efforts to identify more participants continue. On Twitter, hashtags like #IdentifyTerrorist are being used for this purpose.
The case of Boston serves as a wake-up call
The attacks on Congress, STF and Planalto were a serious attack on democracy in Brazil. It is important that those involved are identified and punished to the fullest extent of the law. But care must be taken to prevent innocent people from being targeted as terrorists.
During the 2013 Boston Marathon, two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three and injuring 264 people. Shortly afterwards, there was a mobilization on the internet to identify the culprits based on the images of the event.
On Reddit, at least two innocent people were named as participants in the attack. The most serious case was that of Sunil Tripathi, then 22 years old. At the time, the boy had been missing for over a month. A publicity campaign with his photo was created on social networks. But a Reddit participant linked Tripathi’s image to the terrorists’ photos.
In a short time, the name of Sunil Tripathi won the social networks, but for the wrong reason. There was no mobilization to find him, but to find him guilty. The boy’s family even had to remove the page created on Facebook to help in their search, due to the amount of insults received.
Sunil Tripathi was found days later, dead. The necropsy indicated suicide as the cause of death, but there is no evidence that the act was motivated by the unjust accusation. The young man had a history of depression and that appears to be the reason for his death.
Even so, the case was so serious that the Reddit even apologized to the family.
Social media can really help
The case of the Boston Marathon draws attention to the need for care in identifying those involved in violent actions. These precautions include seeking more details or other evidence before an appointment. A more prudent measure is to send information to the authorities (guidelines on this in the next topic).
But being careful is not the same as making the mobilization in favor of identifying the culprits illegitimate. Especially because social networks and messaging services can be really useful for investigations.
Take, for example, the invasion of the Capitol in the United States. At the time, access to Parler was suspended after the social network was banned by Google, Apple and Amazon. However, one hacker preserved 57TB of service data to help with investigations. Parler has an expressive base of supporters of Donald Trump, precisely those who invaded the Capitol.
Prosecutor’s Office receives allegations
In general, participants in the terrorist acts in Brasília did not bother to hide their faces. As has already become clear, many of them used their profiles on social networks to publicize the intrusions.
It is relatively easy to identify these people, therefore. You just can’t say the same about supporters who encouraged barbarism through Telegram groups or fake profiles on networks, for example.
But this is not to say that nothing can be done against these individuals. This Monday (9), the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) reported that it is receiving complaints, images and videos that may help in the investigations. To do so, simply access the Citizen Service Room of the organ.
Complaints can also be sent to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security through the address [email protected].
https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/2023/01/09/redes-sociais-ajudam-a-identificar-terroristas-de-brasilia-mas-e-preciso-cuidado/