Brazil represents itself to the world as a liberal democracy, but it's not one. Its Federal Police, Supreme Court, and Attorney General are censoring legal speech, trying to ban independent journalists and politicians from social media platforms, and may file criminal charges against me for publishing accurate and legal information in the form of the "Twitter Files - Brazil."
Today, I am fighting back. I have filed a formal request for a "Precautionary Measure" against the Brazilian government by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (âOASâ) whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere.
I have also made a special appeal to Pedro Vaca Villarreal, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR. @PVacaV
Pedro Vaca Villarreal, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR (left) and Michael Shellenberger, Founder-President, Environmental Progress (right).
My case is very strong. The two Federal Police Reports and the report by the Attorney General of the Union both suggest that I am under criminal investigation and at imminent risk of criminal prosecution for publishing entirely accurate and legal information.
Brazil is still today formally a democracy. But it should not longer be considered a liberal one. The war on free speech by Brazil's Supreme Court and President @LulaOficial has gone too far. At best, Brazil is an "illiberal democracy." At worst, it is headed toward totalitarianism.
The Organization of American States must take action to prevent Brazil from continuing down the dangerous road toward totalitarianism.
My full application can be read at the web site of my nonprofit research organization, Environmental Progress. Also, the Federal Police reports and the Attorney General's report can be found there.
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Brazilian Judge Pushes Nationalist Conspiracy Theory To Weaponize Federal Police Against Defenders Of Free Speech
Brazilâs Federal Police discuss me in new report commissioned by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes
Yesterday, a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice, who is also the President of the Superior Electoral Commission, lashed out angrily at X owner Elon Musk. At an event heavily promoted by Globo News, Alexandre de Moraes claimed that Musk is part of a vast extremist conspiracy to undermine Brazilâs sovereignty and democracy. He claimed that Musk was an âirresponsible mercantilistâ motivated solely by profits who had âunitedâ with âextremist Brazilian politicians.â
But there is no evidence of any conspiracy. Musk did not know I would publish the Twitter Files Brazil. Nor did the Brazilian politicians who reacted to them. And many of the politicians and journalists who de Moraes is demonizing as âextremistâ are advocates of freedom of speech, including the right to criticize de Moraes.
Itâs true that some of the people who de Moraes is censoring have urged a military intervention and have made unsubstantiated claims about elections and Covid. I do not agree with many of the statements made by the people whom de Moraes has censored.
But freedom of speech means nothing if it does not protect people and ideas you disagree with. If we arenât going to allow people to criticize democracy, elections, and vaccines, how will we ever know if they are bad? If people are spreading false information about democracy, elections, and vaccines, the best way to deal with the false information is with accurate information, not censorship.
The real extremist spreading disinformation here is de Moraes. If Musk were solely motivated by money, then he would not have stood up to de Moraes, which resulted in the Brazilian government halting all advertising on X, the resignation of Xâs top lawyer in Brazil, who feared for his safety, and may result in de Moraes shutting down X in Brazil.
He is not simply demanding that social media platforms censor specific content by controversial journalists and politicians. He is demanding that all social media platforms ban them for life. He often does so through secret hearings without the right of appeal.
In fact, itâs all much worse than that. You canât be a politician or journalist if you canât communicate on social media. And so de Moraes is not just violating the Brazilian constitutionâs protections of free speech, he is also attacking the freedom of the press, destroying careers, and interfering in elections.
De Moraes has acted unilaterally to invent entirely new laws. He is thus interfering and taking over the role of Congress and of the president. That means he is behaving like a dictator.
And now de Moraes has weaponized the Federal Police, including against me, for publishing the Twitter Files in Brazil. The Federal Police delivered two reports to de Moraes, one on April 18 and the other on April 19. The reports consist of a gigantic conspiracy theory, suggesting connections and relationships that simply do not exist.
The reports single me out and suggest it is somehow suspicious that I only have paid for one subscription on X, which is to Elon Musk. But there is nothing suspicious about this. I am paying Musk, not the other way around. And, as the Police report notes, Musk takes a percentage of the revenue of the people who subscribe to my content on X.
And the reports claim that people who de Moraes had demanded be censored had gained limited access to communicate on X, in particular through Xâs Spaces, which allows for live conversation.
In other words, de Moraes is totally obsessed with silencing his enemies. Itâs not enough for X to have blocked profiles. He also doesnât want them to be able to use their voice.
It helps that the Brazilian government directly pays the Brazilian news media. The new Lula government increased government funding by 60% for Globo alone. Globo is the biggest media in Brazil. It has been demanding more censorship and running propaganda for de Moraes.
De Moraes is a brutish authoritarian. His censorship is as bad as the censorship imposed by Brazilâs military dictators. He is seeking, as a judge, to eliminate particularly politicians and journalists from public life.
This is hardly the first time de Moraes has weaponized the Federal Police. And in calling Elon Musk a foreign mercantilist, de Moraes is using the exact same kind of nationalist rhetoric that he has attacked his enemies for using.
Why does Moraes have so much power? In Brazil, people told me it was because de Moraes controls so many court cases involving rich and powerful people, including politicians and other judges.
The solution is for Brazilâs Congress to open an investigation, known as a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI). A CPI can evaluate judicial abuses of power, and that is obviously what is happening here. Under a CPI, Brazilâs Congress could gain access to communications between police and judges or anyone else.
A CPI could also hear from the victims of censorship. It could bring light to thousands of cases under secrecy. And it could discover how social media platforms were compelled to obey or collaborate with the regime.
Musk has taken extraordinary and historic actions to protect free speech. So, too has the US Congress. Now itâs time for Brazilâs Congress to act against the anti-democratic extremism of de Moraes. It must do so before the extremist de Moraes starts arresting his political enemies and shuts down X, and thus free speech, in Brazil.
Years Of US-UK Military And Intelligence Planning Behind Sweeping Brazil Censorship, Evidence Suggests
_Secret evidence, specialized spy units, and permanent bans on populists were key tactics developed by government operatives_
Late last night, the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives released over 500 pages of confidential Brazilian court documents relating to censorship demands on X, formerly Twitter. The Committee had obtained them from X through its subpoena powers.
The documents show a single Superior Electoral Court (TSE) Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, demanding permanent bans on over 150 elected officials and journalists. De Moraes demanded these bans in secret processes, without explanation or means of appeal, and across social media platforms. Given the dependence of elected leaders on social media, these demands for bans may constitute electoral interference.
In one case, De Moraes demanded that all major social media platforms, including at least one, Twitter, which did not publish the offending material, ban a federal Congressman, Marcel Van Hattem. The TSE had claimed that Van Hattem had criticized the election results. Not only had Van Hattanâs video not been related to the elections, but it was also a criticism of the Labor Department. It was released one day before the election.
In many ways, Brazilâs sweeping censorship system is unique to Brazil. Brazilâs Censorship Industrial Complex is located in the judiciary rather than in the executive branch, as it is in Europe, in the European Commission, and the U.S., in the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, and other agencies.
However, in other ways, Brazilâs censorship simply reflects the most advanced form of the Censorship Industrial Complex vision created by US and UK government officials, particularly ones working for the military and intelligence agencies.
Our work revealed that current and former agents from the US Department of Defense, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the British Ministry of Defense all developed comprehensive censorship programs. The Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation have been caught funding the creation of censorship tools, including AI-based ones, for Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to engage in mass censorship.
Beginning in early 2017, several military and intelligence agencies and agents from the US and UK governments developed similar censorship tactics that Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) was caught using. Those tactics includedâŠ