Lisbon, June 5, 2025 (Lusa) — The Portuguese Cabinet office minister acknowledged on Thursday that members of the government and older parties “know they are being beaten” by those who use new technologies in a manipulative way and “stir up hatred” and resentment.
“Most of those in the Government and in the oldest parties know that today they are being beaten by those who use this technology in a more effective, probably more instantaneous, often more manipulative way, much more often stirring up hatred, anger and resentment, the ‘hates’ that generate many ‘likes’ and many shares on social media,” said António Leitão Amaro.
The Cabinet office minister was speaking on the panel ‘Politics and Policies, the Great Influencers’ at the ICON international conference about influence, held at the Meo Arena in Lisbon.
António Leitão Amaro argued that “politics is still in shock from the digital transformation”, adding that this is not the first time that such a phenomenon has occurred and that at other times “powerful ministers” have been “hampered because others communicate better”.
Leitão Amaro used history to illustrate his point, recalling that in the Roman Empire there were those who began to mobilise the public by organising “gladiator festivals, great spectacles” and “populist strategies to persuade”, leading those who “were used to being institutional” to think that they would not be able to remain in power.
“We have to know, just like those in previous centuries, that we have to transform the way we communicate. And I don’t think we’re there yet,” he added.
The Cabinet office minister also recalled his role in the immigration policies of the executive led by Luís Montenegro, using his proposals as an example of transparent communication that is “serious and truthful, respecting the truth and the facts” and avoids manipulating emotions.
“It’s so easy for me to appear, for some people, to say ‘it’s all the same, let’s open the doors, let’s not care, peace and love’ or for another part of society ‘they’re coming to steal our jobs, they’re coming to steal social benefits, they’re coming to commit more crimes than those who are already here’. These would be false facts. There are those who are doing this.” And there are those who get lots of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on their pages because they misuse their power of influence. I don’t want to have a million ‘likes’ telling a lie,” he concluded.
The Cabinet office minister, António Leitão Amaro, will oversee media relations in the 25th Constitutional Government, which takes office today, a government source told Lusa.
In the 24th Government, which ends today, this portfolio was part of Parliamentary Affairs, which will now be led by Carlos Abreu Amorim, replacing Pedro Duarte, who left the executive to run for Porto city council.
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