On Wednesday (17), the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released a report on confidential decisions by Brazil’s Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes involving "X" (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms.
Most of the committee's members oppose President Joe Biden and endorse former President Donald Trump. In the document, entitled "The Attack on Free Speech Abroad and the Biden Administration’s Silence: The Case of Brazil", the U.S. deputies even claim that there is "forced censorship" by the Brazilian government against Elon Musk's platform and take the opportunity to criticize Biden.
For Republican politicians, Moraes' decisions, such as the orders to take down X profiles, have been classified as "censorship". They also claim that, in this context, “some foreign governments are eroding basic democratic values and stifling debate in their countries.”
"The attacks on free speech abroad serve as a warning for America. Since his public commitment to free speech, Mr. Musk has faced criticism and attacks from governments around the world, including the United States," says the report.
At the beginning of April, Moraes included Elon Musk in the investigation into the digital militias and ordered a daily fine of BRL100,000 if he disobeyed any court order, such as reactivating profiles judicially blocked.
After the measure, Musk posted on his profile that Alexandre de Moraes "has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and the people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached". In another post, he suggested that the minister should leave the Supreme Court: "Why does the parliament allow Alexandre the power of a brutal dictator? They were elected, he was not. Throw him out," he wrote.
In his decision, Moraes wrote that it is unacceptable for the platform to be unaware of "the criminal instrumentalization that has been carried out by the so-called digital militias in the dissemination, propagation, organization and expansion of countless illicit practices on social media platforms, especially in the very serious attack on the Democratic Rule of Law.”
He also wrote that "the use of illegal mechanisms by 'X' is characterized; as well as the existence of strong evidence of intent by X’s CEO, Elon Musk, in the criminal instrumentalization previously pointed out and investigated in several inquiries," wrote Moraes.
Musk also threatened to remove restrictions on social media accounts of allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro blocked by the Supreme Court, close his company's operations in Brazil and publish all judicial requests the court sent to X.
The parliamentarians say that, in 2022, the Supreme Court ordered at least 77 times to take down X profiles. The following year, there were 136 orders, 107 of which between January and March, shortly after the January 8 coup attempt.
Edited by: Vivian Virissimo
