Also according to Folha, Secom hires advertising agencies that buy spaces through GoogleAdsense to run campaigns on websites, YouTube channels and mobile applications. The advertiser chooses what type of audience he wants to reach, on what types of sites he does not want his campaign to run, and which keywords should be banned. Then, Google distributes the ads to sites or YouTube channels that meet the criteria set by the advertiser.
The amount paid by Secom is divided between Google and the website or YouTube channel. Google's percentages vary, from 40% to 20% or less, depending on the negotiation between the sites and the platform. At the end, the advertiser receives a report on all his ads, where they were served, how many impressions and other data.
This Saturday (9th), after the publication of the Folha de S. Paulo report, Senator Alessandro Vieira, from the Cidadania bench and other senators from the group called Muda Senado, filed a misconduct representation against Secom. The group also presents a request for summoning secretary Fábio Wajngarten for clarification.
According to the Secom spreadsheets, which are available on the federal government's Access to Information website, of the 20 YouTube channels that most conveyed impressions of the New Presidency campaign, 14 are primarily aimed at children and teenagers.
In November 2019, Secom was asked, through the Citizen Information Service, for a report on channels on which the federal government ads contracted through the Google Ads platform were shown. Secom even denied the request twice. However, after appeals, the CGU determined that Secom should make the requested report available within 60 days of notification of the decision.
According to Folha de S. Paulo, the spreadsheets must still be sent to the Fake News CPMI in the coming days. The documents do not specify the total amount spent by Secom on the ads. In May of last year, the secretariat informed that it would spend R$ 37 million (US$6.45m) in advertising inserts on the pension reform, on television, internet, newspapers, radio, social media and airport panels.
Another publication that received ad values with public money was a jogo do bicho results site, which is illegal in Brazil and which would have received 319,082 ads, according to Secom's plan. Fake news sites also received a lot of clicks, in addition to government ad funds. One received 66,431 advertisements.
Secom reports on spreadsheets also spending on ads served on websites and channels that promote the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro. On Bolsonaro TV, for example, which describes itself as “a channel dedicated to supporting the President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro”, there were 5,067 impressions, according to the documents.
The YouTube channel ‘Tuesday Free TV’, which belongs to blogger Allan dos Santos, is also on Secom’s spreadsheet of media that have received government announcements. According to the document, there were 1,447 ads on the channel.
Folha reports that for Manoel Galdino, executive director of Transparência Brasil, the “government is remunerating criminal activities”. "According to the Constitution, government propaganda needs to follow morality, which does not include incentives for unethical activities, such as fake news, or illegal activities, such as the jogo do bicho," he said.
Finally, the newspaper says that Senator Angelo Coronel (PSD-BA), president of CPMI of Fake News, through his adviser, said that he would not comment on the matter because he “did not receive and does not know the information”.
Source: GMB
