Abstract

CAMARGO PENTEADO, Claudio Luis de; ELIAS DE SOUZA, Paulo Roberto; DOS SANTOS, Patrícia Dias  and  GABRIEL HOMMA, Luana Hanaê. Democracy and Freedom in Dispute on Social Media: An Analysis of the Attempted Coup in Brazil in 2023. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2025, n.94, pp.23-43.  Epub Oct 22, 2025. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res94.2025.02.

This article examines the discursive formations mobilized in the online public debate on X (formerly Twitter) by users who supported or opposed the attempted coup in Brazil, known as the “anti-democratic acts of January 8, 2023.” On that day, supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches in an effort to overturn the results of the 2022 elections. In a digitalized and platform-driven society, online debate mirrors political struggles between opposing groups, who use the circulation of content to influence public opinion and legitimize their actions. To investigate this dispute, the study adopted a three-stage methodological strategy: computational techniques to collect digital platform data, natural language processing to identify users’ political positions, and topic modeling to group terms and reveal the main discursive formations shaping the online debate. The analysis draws on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory to interpret the conflict between antagonistic political groups. The research focused on the contested meanings of democracy and freedom, understood as nodal points around which discursive practices are articulated. The findings indicate that groups supportive of the events framed popular revolt and military intervention as patriotic duties in defense of democracy and freedom, while opposing groups appealed to democracy to classify demonstrators as “coup plotters” and “terrorists,” demanding accountability and conceiving of freedom within constitutional boundaries.

Keywords : Brazil; democracy; online discursive disputes; coup d’état; freedom.

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