Do Bolsonaro's mockery of Brigitte Macron come from a fake account?

Question asked on 28/08/2019

Hello,

Two sites accuse the media and the Elysee of having wrongly accused the Brazilian president for his alleged insults on the physical of Brigitte Macron. Thus the site Salon Beige is based on the demonstration of blogger Yves Daoudal and on the text of an AFP dispatch to claim that the message was a fake.

Jair Bolsonaro laughs at a comment mocking Brigitte Macron's physique

August 26, on his blog, Yves Daoudal explains that the mockery of Jair Bolsonaro "Is an infox all the way. The Twitter account we are talking about ("Rodrigo Andreaça") does not exist, and this is true in one click. As for the so-called "answer" of Bolsonaro, asking, "death of laughter", to "Rodrigo Andreaça" to "not humiliate this guy", it is also a false account, which is seen immediately, since this is not the title of Bolsonaro's genuine Twitter account. There are even Brazilian opponents in Bolsonaro who say there is a time when you have to tell the truth. "

But the blogger is wrong. The insult was not posted on Twitter but on Facebook. Rodrigo Andreaça's commentary which showed an image showing the two presidential couples with the mention "You understand why Macron persecutes Bolsonaro" is still online, but the response of the Brazilian president ("Do not embarrass the guy. hahahaha ") has disappeared. However, it is still visible in the cache of the Google search engine or in the many screenshots posted by various French or Brazilian journalists. The President's response, which appears with the blue initials certifying that it is the certified account of Jair Bolsonaro, was also immortalized by the Facebook account of Rodrigo Andreaça.

AFP error, corrected quickly, confusing

The other argument of Salon Beige is this text published by BFM TV: "In addition, Brazilian sites like many Internet users have been abused by a false account of Jair Bolsonaro who mocked the physique of Brigitte Macron, aged 66, compared to that of his wife Michelle, 37 years. This false account made President Bolsonaro say: "Do not embarrass the type – MDR" ("death of laughter"), a message widely shared by the Bolsonarist sphere.

It is taken from a dispatch of Agence France presse entitled "Brazil: Macron insulted on Twitter by a minister of Bolsonaro", sent by AFP to its customers from 22:15 and published on 25 August at 11:00 pm, by several media such as the cross, Arte, BFM TV or the Courrier picard.

The following day, AFP publishes a new dispatch "Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro attacks Brigitte Macron", in which the agency claims that "Mr. Bolsonaro reacted to a post that mocked the physique of the French first lady ». AFP even asked for a reaction from the Brazilian presidential palace, which did not wish to comment.

Since then, we also know that President Bolsonaro has acknowledged the origin of this message. Tuesday, August 27, at a press conference, the Brazilian head of state defended himself for insulting Brigitte Macron. According to his explanations: "I did not publish this picture. Someone published it and I told him not to say bullshit. " The answer does not explain why the President then added laughter "Kkkkkkk", equivalent of "Hahahahaha" in his commentary.

Since Jair Bolsonaro admits to being the author of the comment, it can be deduced that AFP sent an erroneous dispatch on the evening of 25 August. The news agency had also realized quickly since, on August 26, at 01:21, it means the error to its customers by sending them another corrected version with the following remark: "Please note in the 7th and 8th paragraphs that this is Jair Bolsonaro's certified account on Facebook and not a fake account on Twitter, hence the confusion."

Unfortunately, the media cited have not all taken into account the corrected version of AFP and have left online the first version, taken by the Salon Beige, which suggests that Jair Bolsonaro was not the author of the comment .

cordially

Jacques Pezet