After a decade of accelerated growth and prominence on the global stage, Brazil found itself in the heart of a huge crisis, generated by a deep-rooted structural problem: political corruption. After becoming the number-one company of consumer protection in Brazil during the years of economic boom by exposing corporate misconduct, Reclame Aqui decided to expand its operations and stand up for all citizens.

Based on facial recognition, Corruption Detector is a free APP that draws on a comprehensive database with all the official records of corruption, previously hidden in hundreds of courts across Brazil. By simply pointing a phone at a candidate, voters can now spot the corrupt ones in purple, no matter where they are: TV, papers, internet, outdoors and even in person. All data organized by the app is available for reference at any time.

The first step was crack the country’s complex justice system and put together the most comprehensive database of official records of corruption, previously hidden in hundreds of courts. Then, the strategy was simple: when corrupt politicians show their faces, we drop their masks. In a year when politicians must ask for votes to a country where there is a smartphone for each citizen, we gave a useful weapon to voters that left the corrupt ones no place to hide: a simple and free app. Since voting is mandatory in Brazil, Corruption Detector app has put, for the first time, the hunt for dirty politicians in the hands of people.

The Corruption Detector app is based on Microsoft facial recognition technology, which gives it 99% accuracy. In order to create our database and make it simple for anyone to understand, we had to gather data across hundreds of courts all over Brazil. It took us several months to analyze, select which accusations and investigations concerned corruption or public administration fraud, and organize the information into one simple list. Then, we translated the legal jargon into all those incomprehensible court records into language anyone would find easy to understand. The app was launched by one of Brazil’s most renowned comedians, who went to Brasília, and stood outside Congress, taking selfies with politicians and showing Brazilians how the app works. Since then, the number of downloads has never stopped growing.

Corruption Detector generated massive awareness for Reclame Aqui and was a key piece to the expansion of the Brazilian operation to the US and Europe. From a benchmark in consumer protection, the company became to be seen as a defender of all citizens. In just one week, it became the most downloaded App in Brazil and it remained at the top of the list for the entire election period. While corruption was the main subject of the elections, Reclame Aqui became the source of information for media and voters. But the most important result came after the race: the 2018 election turned over a record number of political seats, producing the lowest rate of corrupt politicians ever elected. The Senate had 85% Turnover and the lowest re-election rate ever; 47% of Congressmen elected for a first term; 39% of Governors elected as new politicians.