Flávio Bolsonaro’s departure to the US sparks a flurry of viral Brazilian memes

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Political memes have exploded in Brazil since Sunday’s election that saw President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat his opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, who responded to his loss by fleeing the country.Social media played an outsized role in Lula's win, with the unprecedented mobilization of the country's left on digital networks a critical factor in how Sunday's vote played out. Bolsonaro, who is under investigation for money laundering and corruption, said on Monday that he had no intentions of leaving Brazil, then departed the country shortly thereafter. The extraordinary sequence of events kicked Brazil’s famed meme-making machine into overdrive, turbo-charged by artificial intelligence. The posts got hundreds of thousands of likes and shares on multiple social media platforms.“Brazilians treat serious questions with lightness, irony and humor,” said Carolina Terra, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo’s communications and arts school. “Everything that is extremely relevant and important, whether political or not, tends to turn into memes that become viral.”“Where is Flávio?” many on the internet asked, depicting former President Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son as W...