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RELATED: The Twitter Files: index of posts
The Twitter Files - Brazil
https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1775516415023251835
to: https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1775539067716866051
[archive @ Thread Reader: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1775516415023251835.html]
{Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger | 03 April 2024}
[all emphasis in the original - OB]
TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL
Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes.
De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media. He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. And he has required the censorship of specific posts, without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them.
Now, Twitter Files, released here for the first time, reveal that de Moraes and the Superior Electoral Court he controls engaged in a clear attempt to undermine democracy in Brazil. They:
— illegally demanded that Twitter reveal personal details about Twitter users who used hashtags he did not like;
— demanded access to Twitter’s internal data, in violation of Twitter policy;
— sought to censor, unilaterally, Twitter posts by sitting members of Brazil’s Congress;
— sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president @jairbolsonaro
The Files show: the origins of the Brazilian judiciary’s demand for sweeping censorship powers; the court’s use of censorship for anti-democratic election interference; and the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil.
TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL was written by @david_agape_, @EliVieiraJr & @shellenberger
We presented these findings to de Moraes, to the Supreme Court (STF), and to the High Electoral Court (TSE). None responded.
Let’s get into it...
[additional matter hidden to save space]
“TSE’s request is clearly abusive”
“TSE’s request is clearly abusive”, Brazilian attorney and legal scholar Hugo Freitas (@hugofreitas_r) told us, when asked about the situation.
“Posting hashtags to promote legislative changes is completely appropriate for a democracy and it’s no crime predicted by Brazilian law.”
Three months after de Moraes became TSE’s president in August 2022, he demanded censorship.
Despite the fact that posting hashtags does not violate any specific legal statutes, Twitter complied with the court's demands to avoid substantial fines.
Brazil’s high court and Twitter removed political speech and penalized users for debating policies. In this way, the court appears to have interfered in a major presidential election.
Today: Fake News Bill For Censorship
Today, Brazil’s Censorship Industrial Complex is demanding that Congress pass “Fake News” censorship legislation. The bill would hold social media companies hostage if they didn’t comply with vague censorship requirements. The bill doesn’t define what “fake news” or “disinformation” are.
What the Fake News bill would do is require social media platforms to pay news outlets for the right to distribute their content. This is the exact same approach being pushed by governments in Australia and Canada.
De Moraes, the TSE, and Brazil’s Supreme Court openly lobbied for the legislation.
The public revolted against the censorship bill, and Congress stalled the bill in May 2023.
Then, in February of this year, the TSE unilaterally implemented the legislation, usurping the role of Congress.
No Free Speech In An Election
TSE’s censorship is an attack on the democratic process. Elections can remain free and fair only if the public is able to debate and question election laws, systems, and results. If there ever is electoral fraud in Brazil, nobody will be allowed to talk about it, if de Moraes gets his way.
For centuries, candidates have complained that the election was stolen. Hillary Clinton claimed this in 2016, Stacey Abrams claimed this in 2018, President Donald Trump claimed this in 2020, and President Jair Bolsonaro claimed this in 2022.
De Moraes wants to make such speech illegal and punish social media platforms that don’t censor it.
The Solution: First Amendment-Level Protections For Brazil
Two legal scholars, Hugo Freitas and André Marsiglia (@hugofreitas_r and @marsiglia_andre), recently introduced new free speech legislation aimed at bringing free speech protections in Brazil to the same high standard as is held in the United States. The bill is a “Declaration of Rights of Freedom of Expression in Brazil.”
The bill seeks to proclaim a Declaration of Free Speech Rights in Brazil, which, if enacted, would roughly align Brazilian law to that of the United States in this regard.
It proposes to repeal the criminalization of speech in all but the most extreme instances, such as true threats or incitement to imminent lawless action. In contrast, conducts such as blasphemy, contempt of authority or certain forms of hate speech and disinformation would cease to be criminalized. The protection of political speech is especially emphasized.
In tort cases, the bill seeks to reduce judicial discretion by laying out clearer standards for assessing if the speech is protected or crosses into illegal conduct. In particular, the bill repeals provisions that have been used by prosecutors and private associations to retaliate against speech by claiming compensatory damages, under allegations such as that it has caused offense to an unknown number of listeners or tarnished the reputation of broad categories of people.
Finally, the bill concerns itself with more modern forms of censorship targeting the internet. A blanket ban is imposed on the practice, now frequent in Brazil, of government blocking the access to specific social media accounts in response to speech.
More subtle forms of internet censorship are also addressed. The government is barred from censoring speech indirectly under the guise of content moderation by private platforms, following in the footsteps of recent court decisions in the US. The bill reaffirms the provisions already in place in Brazilian legislation exempting social media platforms from liability for the speech of its users in response to attempts by the government to revoke those provisions so as to force social media companies to censor preemptively according to government wishes.
/END
The Twitter Files - Brazil
https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1775516415023251835
to: https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1775539067716866051
[archive @ Thread Reader: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1775516415023251835.html]
{Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger | 03 April 2024}
[all emphasis in the original - OB]
TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL
Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes.
De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media. He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. And he has required the censorship of specific posts, without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them.
Now, Twitter Files, released here for the first time, reveal that de Moraes and the Superior Electoral Court he controls engaged in a clear attempt to undermine democracy in Brazil. They:
— illegally demanded that Twitter reveal personal details about Twitter users who used hashtags he did not like;
— demanded access to Twitter’s internal data, in violation of Twitter policy;
— sought to censor, unilaterally, Twitter posts by sitting members of Brazil’s Congress;
— sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president @jairbolsonaro
The Files show: the origins of the Brazilian judiciary’s demand for sweeping censorship powers; the court’s use of censorship for anti-democratic election interference; and the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil.
TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL was written by @david_agape_, @EliVieiraJr & @shellenberger
We presented these findings to de Moraes, to the Supreme Court (STF), and to the High Electoral Court (TSE). None responded.
Let’s get into it...
[additional matter hidden to save space]
“TSE’s request is clearly abusive”, Brazilian attorney and legal scholar Hugo Freitas (@hugofreitas_r) told us, when asked about the situation.
“Posting hashtags to promote legislative changes is completely appropriate for a democracy and it’s no crime predicted by Brazilian law.”
Three months after de Moraes became TSE’s president in August 2022, he demanded censorship.
Despite the fact that posting hashtags does not violate any specific legal statutes, Twitter complied with the court's demands to avoid substantial fines.
Brazil’s high court and Twitter removed political speech and penalized users for debating policies. In this way, the court appears to have interfered in a major presidential election.
Today: Fake News Bill For Censorship
Today, Brazil’s Censorship Industrial Complex is demanding that Congress pass “Fake News” censorship legislation. The bill would hold social media companies hostage if they didn’t comply with vague censorship requirements. The bill doesn’t define what “fake news” or “disinformation” are.
What the Fake News bill would do is require social media platforms to pay news outlets for the right to distribute their content. This is the exact same approach being pushed by governments in Australia and Canada.
De Moraes, the TSE, and Brazil’s Supreme Court openly lobbied for the legislation.
The public revolted against the censorship bill, and Congress stalled the bill in May 2023.
Then, in February of this year, the TSE unilaterally implemented the legislation, usurping the role of Congress.
No Free Speech In An Election
TSE’s censorship is an attack on the democratic process. Elections can remain free and fair only if the public is able to debate and question election laws, systems, and results. If there ever is electoral fraud in Brazil, nobody will be allowed to talk about it, if de Moraes gets his way.
For centuries, candidates have complained that the election was stolen. Hillary Clinton claimed this in 2016, Stacey Abrams claimed this in 2018, President Donald Trump claimed this in 2020, and President Jair Bolsonaro claimed this in 2022.
De Moraes wants to make such speech illegal and punish social media platforms that don’t censor it.
The Solution: First Amendment-Level Protections For Brazil
Two legal scholars, Hugo Freitas and André Marsiglia (@hugofreitas_r and @marsiglia_andre), recently introduced new free speech legislation aimed at bringing free speech protections in Brazil to the same high standard as is held in the United States. The bill is a “Declaration of Rights of Freedom of Expression in Brazil.”
The bill seeks to proclaim a Declaration of Free Speech Rights in Brazil, which, if enacted, would roughly align Brazilian law to that of the United States in this regard.
It proposes to repeal the criminalization of speech in all but the most extreme instances, such as true threats or incitement to imminent lawless action. In contrast, conducts such as blasphemy, contempt of authority or certain forms of hate speech and disinformation would cease to be criminalized. The protection of political speech is especially emphasized.
In tort cases, the bill seeks to reduce judicial discretion by laying out clearer standards for assessing if the speech is protected or crosses into illegal conduct. In particular, the bill repeals provisions that have been used by prosecutors and private associations to retaliate against speech by claiming compensatory damages, under allegations such as that it has caused offense to an unknown number of listeners or tarnished the reputation of broad categories of people.
Finally, the bill concerns itself with more modern forms of censorship targeting the internet. A blanket ban is imposed on the practice, now frequent in Brazil, of government blocking the access to specific social media accounts in response to speech.
More subtle forms of internet censorship are also addressed. The government is barred from censoring speech indirectly under the guise of content moderation by private platforms, following in the footsteps of recent court decisions in the US. The bill reaffirms the provisions already in place in Brazilian legislation exempting social media platforms from liability for the speech of its users in response to attempts by the government to revoke those provisions so as to force social media companies to censor preemptively according to government wishes.
/END
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