The Vaporstate: Brazil is Banking on Apps

Computer Says Maybe • January 23, 2026 • Solo Episode

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What happens when the very way you prove who you are is stolen by someone else? And what happens when a country stands up to Meta and builds their own. More like this: The Vaporstate: ID in India For episode two of The Vaporstate, Alix is joined by Rafael Zanatta and Luã Cruz . Rafa walks us through the incredible story of how his mom’s digital ID was stolen and a clever bank teller stopped someone from halfway across the country from stealing her savings. Luã ****shares the geopolitical battles that prevented a Meta takeover of Brazilian peer-to-peer payment and the roll out of a frictionless financial transaction system called PIX. Further reading & resources: Brazil Has The World’s Most Accessed Citizen Services Platform — Forbes, March 2024 More about Data Privacy Brazil The Tyranny of Convenience by Tim Wu — New York Times, 2018 Works by South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han Lula pushing back against Trump’s tariffs — AP, September 2025 More about The Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection **Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

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