The good, the bad and the ugly: Problematic politics of livestream witnessing and digital marketplaces in Brazil

Abstract

Populists in Brazil have created streaming apps to discuss Indigenous rights and the environment. This paper argues that a witnessing framework can be used to investigate these livestream apps. It examines good and bad cases and how they’re synthesised into an ugly space scaffolded by digital marketplaces. Since these apps incentivise offline behaviours that affect the environment and democracy, this paper recommends that digital marketplaces regulate themselves and we bear witness to them.