EXCLUSIVE: Brazil tried to censor Rumble and X to suppress election integrity concerns, Judiciary Committee docs reveal

A new investigation from the Judiciary Committee has revealed that Brazil has directly targeted free speech platforms with the intent to ban, suppress, and censor accounts that criticize the Brazilian government and its election practices. Federal Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who earlier this year went head to head with Elon Musk over demands to remove specifc user accounts, has been behind the censorship.

Moraes has claimed that those who question the integrity of Brazil's last election are guilty of spreading "disinformation" and has demanded Rumble ban accounts that do so, including popular podcasters and opposition politicians, as seen in documents obtained by The Post Millennial. 

Moraes has used the January 8, 2023 protest by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro to bolster his demands to censor content. 

The Washington Post, in describing the protests, claimed, "It suggested a spreading plague of far-right disrupters in Western democracies, as hard-liners radicalized by incendiary political rhetoric refuse to accept election losses, cling to unfounded claims of fraud and undermine the rule of law."

In demanding the removal of accounts, Moraes said, "The role of the instigators of the acts, especially on social media, is of no less relevant circumstance, making it clear that the aforementioned communication means are an essential part of the criminal enterprise that resulted in the appalling acts witnessed on 1/8/2023, and in the subsequent acts scheduled for the following days, subject to decisions in this case record and in ADPF 519."

Rumble's CEO Chris Pavlovski, like Musk, refused to comply. Pavlovski blocked access to Rumble in Brazil rather than comply with Moraes demands. Moraes has threatened to suspend X in Brazil, preventing users from accessing the site. He demanded the banning of user accounts from social media platforms without letting those users know they were even under investigation at all. Musk defied the court order and has refused to ban the accounts per Moraes demands.

The Judiciary Committee's interest in Brazil has all to do with the United States and preventing, or stopping, that kind of censorship from occurring here. Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Brazil, has said that the US has been using Brazil as a "censorship laboratory, learning how to implement and escalate their totalitarian assault on free expression." 

In the US, questioning the 2020 election results has been classed by big tech companies and the Biden administration as disinformation. YouTube suppressed and demonetized content that raised these questions, but at the same time, Democrats were free to question the 2016 election results.

President Joe Biden and his administration, which backs the current, socialist government in Brazil, headed by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been silent as tech companies have fought for the free speech rights of their own company and their users in Brazil. Many Brazilians believe that Lula came to power in a coup to oust previous president Jair Bolsonaro, who now faces legal problems under the Lula administration. The Judiciary Committee demanded answers from Biden's State Department, asking "how the State Department intends to respond to these attacks on free speech in Brazil." The relevant documents were also requested. 

The documents showed that Moraes issued demand letters to Twitter, Meta, Telegram, Rumble and Locals to block specific profiles within two hours "on pain of a daily fine of one hundred thousand reais with the provision of their registration data to this Supreme Court, and preservation of their contents."

The letter further ordered "said companies to immediately suspend the transfer of amounts arising from monetization, services used for donation, payment of advertising and registration of supporters, and arising from monetized lives, including those made through the provision of transmission keys to the channels/profiles mentioned above, informing this Supreme Court of all the transfers made up to the date of receipt of the court order."

Moraes demanded that political pundits be suppressed along with opposition party candidates and leaders, members of the federal legislature and judiciary, radio stations and "even a gospel singer," per the Judiciary Committee. 

One of those who was a specific target of Moraes is podcaster Monark, who has been called the Joe Rogan of Brazil. Monark, whose real name is Bruno Montiero Aiub, was put under criminal investigation by Moraes. Monark was fined, his bank account blocked, his social media channels suspended and demonetized, over allegations of "disinformation." He launched account after account, only for Moraes to contact social media companies and demand that they be banned as well. 

In a June demand, Moraes transcribed some of Monark's content. "Monark says: 'And it's not the guy who's going there, fighting and putting in place... because, every time the Supreme Court makes a move like that, it spends its political capital. This takes a toll on it. [...] So, why is it (Supreme) willing to pay this cost? Why is it (Supreme) willing to guarantee non-transparency in elections? We see the TSE censoring people, we see Alexandre de Moraes arresting people, you see a lot of things happening, and at the same time they are preventing the transparency of the ballot boxes? You become wary, what monkey business is happening at the ballot boxes there? Why? Why doesn’t our political system want to let the Brazilian people have more certainty? What is the interest? Manipulate the ballot boxes? Manipulate the elections? That’s what I keep thinking...’.”

Pavlovski is set to testify before Congress on Tuesday.

Judiciary Committee report on Brazil