São Paulo cancels R$108 million free Wi-Fi deal with NGO linked to Dark Horse producer

São Paulo's city government announced on Monday (November 9) in the municipal official gazette that it had unilaterally ended its free Wi-Fi partnership with the non-governmental organisation Instituto Conhecer Brasil (ICB), after Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino ordered payments to the organisation frozen, making the deal unworkable.

R$108 million deal; only about 3,200 hotspots installed

Signed in June 2024 for 12 months, the contract was to install 5,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots in communities across São Paulo, initially worth R$108 million and growing to more than R$157 million after successive addenda. According to Agência Brasil, all 5,000 were due by June 2025, but only about 3,200 had been installed when the deal was ended. The termination was signed by Humberto de Alencar Pizza da Silva, the municipal secretary for innovation and technology, effective November 6; the city had already stopped paying in September.

NGO head is the Dark Horse producer, who wrote to the mayor seeking renewal

The Instituto Conhecer Brasil is led by journalist and entrepreneur Karina Ferreira da Gama, who also owns Go Up Entertainment, the producer of Dark Horse, a biopic of former president Jair Bolsonaro. According to G1, she wrote to Mayor Ricardo Nunes on October 29 asking for the deal to continue, saying workers faced payment disruption. The city said it would launch a new tender for the installed hotspots, which may stop working temporarily.

State prosecutors and police investigating since May; federal probe also under way

The São Paulo State Public Prosecutor's Office and the Civil Police opened an investigation into the contract in May. Separately, a federal inquiry is looking into the destination of R$2 million in parliamentary amendment funds involving federal deputy Mario Frias; Justice Dino has authorised the Federal Police to access São Paulo's investigation files on the organisation and related companies. The city said ending the contract does not close the matter: the institute must still account for funds already received and may have to return money if irregularities are found. The allegations about the use of funds remain under investigation and have not been established by a court. Sources: Particle News; Agência Brasil; Pipoca Moderna; Acessa; LexLegal; SpaceMoney.