There, they are free to state what they believe, without fear of ridicule: that the Earth is a flat, stationary body. Yet Brazil's Flat-Earthers are also a secretive, at times paranoid, community, communicating via encrypted messages on WhatsApp, invitation-only Facebook groups and especially on YouTube, where their channels have tens of thousands of followers. One of Bolsonaro's most prominent ideologues, the writer and former astrologer Olavo de Carvalho, has said he 'cannot refute' Flat-Earth theory. It is a curious but remarkably large club: more than 11 million people in Brazil-seven percent of the population-believe the Earth is flat, according to polling firm Datafolha.Īnd their influence stretches surprisingly far, in a country currently swept up in the post-truth era and the anti-intellectual, climate-change-skeptic worldview embodied by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. 'The only things I know for certain are that I'm going to die someday and that the Earth is flat,' he says.

Ricardo, who declines to give his full name for just that reason, is a 60-something man whose restaurant in Sao Paulo has become a meeting place for people who, like him, reject the notion that the Earth is a sphere.

How to prove the earth is flat