RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A US congressional committee has released secret Brazilian court orders to suspend accounts on social media platform X, offering a glimpse into decisions that prompted complaints of alleged censorship from the company and owner billionaire Elon Musk.
The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday published a staff report that revealed dozens of decisions made by Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordering X to suspend or remove about 150 user profiles from its platform over the years recently
The 541-page report is the result of subscripts from the committee directed at X. In his orders, de Moraes prevented X from making them public.
“To comply with its obligations under US law, X Corp. has responded. to the Committee,” the company said in a statement on X on April 15.
The revelation comes amid Musk’s battle against de Moraes.
Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, promised to publish Moraes’ orders, which amounted to censorship. Supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who allege they are being targeted by political persecution, have found common cause with their ideological allies in the US.
De Moraes oversaw a five-year investigation into so-called “digital militias”, which allegedly spread defamatory fake news and threats against Supreme Court judges. The investigation was expanded to include those who inspired demonstrations across the country, trying to cancel Bolsonaro’s 2022 election loss. Those protests culminated in the January 8 uprising in the Brazilian capital, with Bolsonaro supporters storming government buildings, including the Supreme Court, in an attempt to oust President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Critics of De Moraes claim that he abused his powers and should not be allowed to unilaterally ban social media accounts, including those of democratically elected legislators. But most legal experts consider his brash tactics legally sound and justified by the extraordinary circumstances of democracy at stake. They note that his decisions were upheld or unchallenged by his fellow judges.
The Supreme Court of Brazil and its top electoral court, currently chaired by de Moraes, released the secret orders revealed by the congressional committee.
The Supreme Court’s press office declined to comment on the potential ramifications of his release when contacted by The Associated Press.
“Musk is a very innovative businessman; he innovated with electric cars, he innovated with rockets and now he created a new form of non-compliance with a court order, through an intermediary,” said Carlos Affonso, director of the non-profit Institute of Technology and Society. “He said he would reveal the documents and he got someone to do this for him.”
Affonso, who was also a professor of civil rights at Rio de Janeiro State University, said the orders are legal but debatable, as users were not told why their accounts were suspended and whether whether the act was done by the platform or by court order. The orders to X included in the report are rarely justified, either.
The Supreme Court’s press office said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the orders are not justified, but said that the company and people with suspended accounts can gain access by requesting decisions from the court.
Although Musk has repeatedly rejected orders from Moraes as suppressing “free speech” principles and amounting to “aggressive censorship,” the company he owns is yielding to government requests around the world.
Last year, for example, X blocked posts critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, in February, blocked accounts and posts in India at the behest of the country’s government.
“The government of India has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and positions, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment,” X’s global affairs account posted on February 21. “As we comply with the orders, these will be withheld. accounts and jobs in India only; However, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of speech should be extended to these posts.”
Brazil is a key market for X and other social media platforms. About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18% of the population, access X at least once a month, according to market research group eMarketer.
X followed suspension orders under threat of large fines. De Moraes usually required compliance within two hours, and established a daily fine of 100,000 reais ($20,000) for non-compliance.
It is not clear whether the 150 suspended accounts represent all the accounts that Moraes was ordered to suspend. Until the committee’s report, it was not known whether the total was a handful, a few dozen or more. Some of the accounts suspended in the report have since been reactivated.
On April 6, Musk went to X to challenge de Moraes, questioning why he was “demanding so much censorship in Brazil”. The next day, the tech mogul said he would stop complying with court orders to block accounts – and that Moraes should resign or be impeached. Predicting that X could be shut down in Brazil, he ordered Brazilians to use a VPN to maintain access.
De Moraes quickly included Musk in the ongoing investigation into digital militias, and launched a separate investigation into Musk’s involvement in obstruction, criminal organization and incitement. On April 13, X’s legal representative in Brazil wrote to de Moraes that he will comply with all court orders, according to the letter, seen by the AP.
Affonso said the committee’s release of de Moraes’ orders was aimed less at Brazil than at the administration of US President Joe Biden. The report cites Brazil “as a stark warning to Americans about the threats of government censorship here at home.”
Terms like “censorship” and “free speech” have turned into political rallying cries for US conservatives since at least the 2016 presidential election, frustrated by seeing right-wing commentators and high-profile Republican officials booted from Facebook and Twitter was pre-Musk. set to break rules.
“The reason the far right needs him (Musk) is because they need a platform, they need a place to promote themselves. And Elon Musk needs far-right politicians because they will keep his platform protected from regulations,” said David Nemer, a professor from Brazil and the University of Virginia who studies social media.
In the United States, free speech is a constitutional right that is far more sanctioned than in other countries, including Brazil. However, the report’s release appeared to boost Bolsonaro and his far-right supporters.
Late Wednesday, soon after the court orders were released, Bolsonaro capped a speech at a public event by asking Musk for applause.
His audience complied enthusiastically.
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AP writer Barbara Ortutay from San Francisco contributed
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