Brazil’s first lady, Rosangela “Janja” Lula Silva, condemned a “hateful attack” Tuesday after her X account was hacked to post a series of misogynistic messages, leading police to open an investigation.
“The hateful and disrespectful attacks I suffer daily have reached a new level. My X account was hacked, and for endless minutes, misogynistic and violent messages were posted against me,” Silva wrote on Instagram.
Silva, a 57-year-old sociologist who is a prominent presence in veteran leftist president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s public appearances, was hacked Monday night, when her account on X — the social media network formerly known as Twitter — published several crudely derogatory posts apparently meant to mock her and her husband.
The president likewise condemned the attack: “We cannot tolerate more incidents like this against women, the primary victims of online crimes,” Lula wrote on X.
Silva has 1.2 million followers on X.
Federal police said they had asked X to block Silva’s account and opened an investigation of the “offensive” messages.
Silva called the posts “criminal and full of machismo, typical of those who despise women, democracy and the law.”
She called to fight misogyny, both online and off.
“Women across Brazil are the victims of misogynistic attacks, which flood social networks and often overflow beyond them, leading to physical attacks and femicide,” she wrote.
Several of Lula’s female cabinet members voiced their solidarity on social media, including Environment Minister Marina Silva and Indigenous Affairs Minister Sonia Guajajara.
