Augusto Cury gains 2.2 million Instagram followers amid political scrutiny

Augusto Cury, the Avante presidential candidate and renowned psychiatrist, has experienced a massive surge in social media presence, gaining approximately 2.2 million Instagram followers in a single week. This growth brought his total to 10.7 million followers, placing him sixth globally in follower gains according to Social Blade.

The rapid increase occurred following a televised debate on TV Band, which also triggered a spike in Google searches for his name. However, the phenomenon has drawn scrutiny from political opponents, who have noted that the growth was not mirrored on other platforms like X, Facebook, or YouTube. Some rival campaigns have raised concerns regarding the legitimacy of the engagement, suggesting the possibility of artificial movements.

Cury’s campaign manager, Sérgio Lima, has denied any use of bots or artificial inflation, stating that the candidate spent roughly R$ 20,000 on content boosting and that much of the engagement is organic, driven by his established career as a prolific author with over 42 million books sold worldwide.