Panama’s new electoral prosecutor has cancelled a proposed $160,500 contract that would have placed public conversations on social media and traditional news platforms under continuous private monitoring.
The Electoral Prosecutor’s Office began arranging the direct contract with Panama-based Brain PBD, S.A. in April, while Ana Raquel Santamaría was serving as acting electoral prosecutor.
The company was expected to monitor and analyse public conversations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout fiscal year 2027. The service was intended to alert electoral authorities to potentially relevant political developments more quickly.
The contract never took effect. Panama’s Comptroller General returned it to the prosecutor’s office with observations and requested corrections before granting the required approval.
María Eugenia Pérez, who took office as electoral prosecutor on September 9, subsequently asked for the procurement process to be cancelled. During a National Assembly budget hearing, Pérez said the institution requires some capacity to monitor social media but does not need this particular contract.
Santamaría defended the original proposal, arguing that the approaching internal party elections and formal electoral period required faster detection of events that could justify action by prosecutors. She said the institution sometimes learns about potentially relevant incidents hours or days after they occur.
However, publicly reported information about the contract does not identify the accounts, keywords or political actors that would have been monitored. It also does not explain what information would have been retained, who could access the resulting reports or what safeguards would have governed the treatment of citizens’ public posts.
Brain PBD describes itself as a media-intelligence company offering real-time monitoring, social listening, reputational analysis, crisis alerts and tracking of prominent accounts and media figures.
Monitoring publicly accessible political advertising and possible electoral violations is not new in Panama. The Electoral Tribunal established its own Digital Media Unit in 2018 to identify potential violations of campaign restrictions.
The cancelled contract nevertheless raised broader questions because it combined continuous analysis of political discussion, a private contractor and a direct procurement procedure. Pérez indicated that the necessary monitoring could instead be performed by the institution’s own personnel.
Sources: La Prensa, Brain PBD
