‘Shopee* Indigenous’ and Climate Disinformation
Did you know that a congresswoman from São Paulo, recently removed from office for spreading disinformation on social media, is leading online attacks against Brazil’s largest Indigenous movement?
* Never heard of Shopee? Read on to discover more! All will become clear…
In previous editions…
The COP president’s worst nightmare has come true
In April, agribusiness and far-right groups intensified their attacks on Indigenous issues, trying to discredit the movement by tying it to the “leftist” agenda and conspiracy theories like “globalism.” This was revealed by our monitoring, carried out with the research unit of Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD).
These attacks were triggered by the Acampamento Terra Livre (“Free Land Camp”), Brazil’s largest annual Indigenous gathering, which brought together over 6,000 Indigenous people from 150 ethnic groups across the country to Brasília.
As usual, part of the disinformation strategy involved denying the very existence of Indigenous peoples, using racist slurs like “fake Indian,” “city Indian,” and “Shopee Indigenous”. The last of these uses the name of a Chinese e-commerce platform well-known in Brazil to imply that Indigenous people’s identities are somehow counterfeit, like cheap copies of real products. “Communist China” and everything it produces are also frequent targets.
WHO
Carla Zambelli, federal congresswoman for PL-SP (Liberal Party, São Paulo), recently removed from office for publishing electoral disinformation on her social media (G1).
FOLLOWERS
X/Twitter: 2.6M
YouTube: 3.7M
PUBLICATION DATE
April 10, 2025
VIEWS
1.1M
The posts of federal congresswoman Carla Zambelli, recently removed from office for spreading election disinformation and sentenced to 10 years in prison for ideological falsehood, reached more users than any other content on the topic in Brazil — the second deadliest country in the world for those who defend life and the forest. Her attacks have gained significant traction.
At the request of Oii, researchers from FGV’s School of Communication, Media and Information analyzed Brazilian legislators' social media posts about the Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL). They identified 83 politicians who posted about the event, with a total of 450,000 interactions on the posts. However, nearly all the engagement centered on just two accounts: indigenous congresswoman Célia Xakriabá (PSOL), who helped promote the ATL, and Carla Zambelli, the top performer in reach and interactions among critics of Indigenous groups and the event.
In a single Instagram video featuring the term ‘Shopee Indigenous’ in both the images and the caption, Zambelli achieved 1.1 million views, 68,000 likes, and almost 10,000 comments.
Oii attended the ATL to shed light on the hidden impacts of lies and disinformation, such as the harm done to:
Public policies and rights guaranteed by international protocols, like land demarcation;
Leaders, their families and communities, who become targets in an unequal power struggle;
And, crucially, how we all perceive and understand the Indigenous movement, eroding public support and potential alliances;
See for yourself:
How to Expose the Lies
Thais here! ;)
I'm writing this message to you directly from my Eisenhower Fellowship journey. Over the past two months, I've met with over a hundred people to brainstorm solutions for the supply chain of climate lies — a topic we've been addressing for years through our Mentira Tem Preço (“Lies Have a Price”) program. Have you heard of it?
The latest research on combating disinformation and hate speech hasn’t been very successful because a key factor has been overlooked. Since the early days of this field in the 1940s, human emotion and social science have been excluded from the conversation, along with real-world factors, such as how social dynamics and inequality fuel violent responses.
Now we must have the courage to invent something new.
That's why people are once again at the centre of our next project, a HUB for climate and disinformation conversations, both online and offline, across Brazil and beyond.
Let me share some key insights:
It is impossible to solve what we cannot see. How can we shine an even brighter light on this issue?
How can we disseminate truth when many perceive it as falsehood?
Words are taking on new meanings. For some, “disinformation” means “censorship”. This is cultural transformation. What else are we waiting for?
We must dare to imagine a new future. Starting now.
FPA: False Posts Abound (not really)
Did you catch this? The Parliamentary Agricultural Front (FPA) paid to boost ads that downplayed the environmental impact of agribusiness and spread climate disinformation, according to NetLab at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Researchers analysed 157 Facebook and Instagram ads from the FPA in 2023 — and found that nearly half of them contained false or misleading information.
It’s not just the internet spreading lies
Our friends at QuotaClimat found that TV and radio in France broadcast an average of 10 climate-related lies every week, mostly targeting renewable energy and electric vehicles. The good news? QuotaClimat are on our side — and they’ve already started digging into the same issues here in Brazil. More info coming soon. :)
