Discursive struggles, legitimation and disinformation: Veja x bolsonaro case in the 2018 elections

Abstract

This article focuses on the theme of the discursive struggles that occurred on Twitter during the presidential election campaign of 2018, particularly in the case of a piece published by Veja on September 28. The piece reported the divorce process of PSL candidate Jair Bolsonaro. In this, accusations, corruption, and violence were explicit. We analyze a corpus of 110 original tweets with more than 100 retweets, looking for the legitimation strategies used and their impact in disinformation. In the following analysis, we note that the dispute was mainly between news vehicles and the militant support of the candidate. In addition, the anti-Veja discourse that succeeded in the subject used legitimacy strategies based on morality and disinformation to counteract the damage caused.