In an age of epic corruption and political cynicism in Brazil, a new browser plug-in aims to attract and inform voters about the extent of their representatives’ involvement in graft.

Released before what is expected to be the biggest general strike in decades, Colour of Corruption is an online political scorecard that details criminal allegations against members of the cabinet, the upper and lower houses of parliament, state governors, their deputies – and even the president.

It comes in the midst of the biggest bribery investigation in Brazil’s history. Operação Lava Jato, or Operation Carwash, which started in 2014, has revealed a massive system of kickbacks and corruption involving almost all of the major political parties and dozens of leading companies, including the state oil giant Petrobras.

The latest revelations – detailed with shocking nonchalance by executives from the Odebrecht construction conglomerate – have prompted the supreme court to authorise investigations into eight ministers from President Michel Temer’s cabinet, as well as five former presidents.

Launched this week, the Google Chrome plug-in paints a vivid purple band over the name of any senior politician facing any kind of investigation. A click then reveals legal processes the politician is facing.

It is seen as a sign of a social and technological fightback against deep-rooted corruption and impunity, particularly when public resentment towards the government has been inflamed by controversial plans for pension reform.

Other sites and applications have targeted graft. During last year’s municipal elections, Brazil’s electoral court released an app for people to denounce electoral irregularities. But Colour of Corruption was launched by one of Brazil’s most popular consumer complaints sites Reclame Aqui, or Complain Here, which says 600,000 people check it every day.

The plug-in is seen as a fightback against deep-rooted corruption and impunity. Photograph: Colour of Corruption

Launched in 2001, Complain Here grew in importance during Brazil’s economic boom, when consumer spending soared but companies often failed to deliver what they had promised. Many Brazilians found posting a complaint on Complain Here more effective than contacting brands directly and also use it to check company reputations.

Now, with Brazil bogged down in the third year of a recession, consumers are turning their attention to democracy, said Iago Bolivar, director of operations for the Complain Here Institute, which is behind the launch.

“The country was very focused on consumption,” Bolivar said. “Brazilians are very focused now on citizenship.”

Information on legal cases is generally available, Bolivar said, but locating it in Brazil’s labyrinthine and cumbersome justice system to too complex for many. “We do not have a transparent justice system,” he said. “Even though this information is in a way available it is very difficult for the common citizen to access.”

After setting up an initial data bank with non-profit group Transparência Brasil (Brazil Transparency), the institute has partnered with the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná State, in southern Brazil. Now 250 students from the university are upgrading the database with a team of lawyers and journalists, Bolivar said. The next step is to add thousands of mayors and state deputies.

Sylvio Costa, founder of Congress in Focus, a Brasília-based watchdog site, said the initiative will ratchet up the pressure on politicians already stressed by the overload of corruption allegations.

“They certainly won’t like it. But this is a war in which society has advanced more than the politicians,” Costa said. The problem will be keeping track of thousands of constantly-changing legally processes. “To do a system like this efficiently, you have to keep it permanently up to date,” he said.

The context is crucial. Last year, millions took to the streets to protest against the former Workers Party president Dilma Rousseff, who was subsequently impeached. Her replacement, Temer, has proven just as unpopular, with ratings now in single digits, and a third of his cabinet implicated in graft, or corruption.

This Friday, the country’s schools, hospitals and transport systems are expected to be paralysed by a general strike against social security reforms. While corruption is not the main rallying cry, it is a major reason for the public reluctance to accept the changes that politicians are trying to impose.

”If we cannot trust the government, why should we trust their message that this reform is unavoidable?” said Fernando Limongi, a Political Scientist at the University of São Paulo.

Whether greater knowledge of corruption will mobilise people has been debated. Nara Pavão, a professor in the political science department at the Federal University of Pernambuco, warned there was a danger that voters could feel the problems are so entrenched that they cannot be solved.

However, Pavão said the government’s unpopular efforts to reform the social security system – which is the major issue in this Friday’s strike – conveyed the impression that politicians were not just selfishly trying to enrich themselves, but had had a malign impact on the public.

“Corruption is not the motive of the strike but it plays a part. The feeling is that not only are the politicians corrupt, but now they are also actively working against them. It shows politicians are failing to consider the voters point of view.It is a problem of representation.”

Flávia Biroli, a professor at the University of Brasilia, said problems were particularly evident in the Temer administration because it was more detached from the public than any of its predecessors.

“There is more at stake than the enrichment of politicians and businessmen, what is at stake is the functioning of Brazilian democracy and its susceptibility to the interests of big business.”