LETTER FROM BUENOS AIRES
“Inflation will collapse!” » Argentine President Javier Milei jubilant during interview with journalist Alejandro Fantino in his program “Multiverso Fantino”, April 8. Live on YouTube, he observes the evolution of prices on a screen from an account of the social network a “robot” which records the prices of the household basket on the Jumbo supermarket website to inform of their evolution.
The tweets report a drop in prices during the first week of April. A result that the far-right president, for whom the drastic austerity policies implemented since his arrival in power must “put an end to inflation” in a country where it has become a chronicle, is delighted to share it with his audience.
The problem is that in the process, Jumbot, which turns out to be a fake account, denies the information. “This account is a social experiment. (…) There has never been a bot that tracks Jumbo prices. But it served one purpose. Expose the need for some to show results that reality denies”, explains a post published a few hours later. The prices of food products have in fact increased by almost 50% since the start of the year, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
“Systematic half-lies”
“There is a very worrying aspect in the communication of the government and the president, that which consists of disseminating systematic half-lies – with a certain degree of plausibility – which remain and which the receiver of the message will interpret according to his sensitivity »analyzes Rolando Muzzin, political communications consultant and researcher at Tres de Febrero University, in Caseros.
Despite the trap of “Jumbogate” (named after the supermarket chain in question), into which the president fell, political communications analysts agree on one point: that of the government is professional and effective. “She is very clever and highlights the inability of her political opponents to counter her. It is characterized by its provocative tone and manages to impose itself at the heart of the debates, to capture the attention of the public and the media”explains Rolando Muzzin.
Developed mainly from personal accounts, the digital dimension is a fundamental pillar of government communication. “Javier Milei is a figure born from the media, from television as a polemicist, but, above all, from social networks which are his natural environment”says Lucia Vincent, political scientist at the University of San Martin specializing in political communication. The success of the presidential campaign of Javier Milei, whose personality shows “relationship difficulties”assures Lucia Vincent, is largely due to its strategy on the networks and the bubbling activity of its followers. “His contact with reality is X”she adds.
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