Censorship Advances in Brazil
UPDATES: 27 Jun - Justice Lucia refers to the Brazilian people as 213M small tyrants to justify censorship
via TupiReport, Telegram
The Federal Supreme Court (STF) has approved, by 8 votes to 3, a ruling that compels digital platforms to immediately remove content classified as "anti-democratic conduct," even without a court order
The decision establishes that social media networks that keep such content online may be held civilly liable if they fail to implement prior mechanisms for preventing or removing the material, with fines and other types of sanctions provided.
In addition to so-called "anti-democratic conduct," the ruling also mandates the immediate removal of content that promotes “incitement to discrimination” based on race, religion, sexuality, or gender identity.
The list also includes…
terrorism
preparatory terrorism crimes
incitement to suicide
child pornography
human trafficking
violence against women
The ruling stems from the case regarding the constitutionality of Article 19 of Brazil’s Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, which limited platform liability to cases in which there was a court order.
With the new interpretation, the STF declared part of the article unconstitutional, arguing that it left constitutionally protected rights—such as the safeguarding of democracy—insufficiently protected.
The category of "anti-democratic conduct" has frequently been manipulated in recent years by the judiciary to justify censorship of the political right on social media.
Since 2019, the Supreme Court's controversial investigations have treated a range of expressions - from posts questioning the security of electronic voting machines to criticisms of the justices themselves - as threats to democracy.
"Platforms will now have to preemptively remove any potentially questionable content to avoid liability or financial risk," lamented Fábio Coelho, president of Google Brazil, in an interview earlier in June.
Our Take on Brazil's Censorship
This fiasco will fall on its face - even their allies are not sure how this is enforceable.
The only thing going for the courts of Brazil is you are assumed guilty from the moment a charge has been filed against you - innocence must be proven.
Anyone non-Brazilian knowing this can easily send the Brazilian judicial system into a revolving door.
The Lula administration is no stranger to communist ways and means - it is no secret that Lula is an admirer of Fidel Castro.
And every country that has become communist was socialist just prior.
Moraes is also overzealous - thinking he can reach into other countries and tell them what their residents and citizens can and cannot say about the Brazilian government.
Meanwhile, Chris Smith, chairman of the U.S. Congress Human Rights Commission, has requested that Senator Marco Rubio urgently pursue sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF), forwarding the testimony of Brazilian journalist Paulo Figueiredo as supporting evidence.
Moraes, and several others in the Brazilian government, have already been notified that they are no longer welcome to the U.S. and any VISA applications will be immediately rejected.
The future of Brazil is, at the moment, looking more and more like what Venezuela went through and is like now since Maduro stole the Presidency.
Bolsonaro believes he can get his block from being in politics removed - keep praying for him, his family, and Brazil
Meanwhile, OAS Is Being Taken to Task for Its Failure
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau questioned the very purpose of the Organization of American States (OAS), suggesting that its existence loses meaning if it is “unable” to effectively address the crises in Venezuela (https://t.me/tupireport/21077) and Haiti (https://t.me/tupireport/16606)
“If we are incapable of responding to or remedying a situation where a regime openly ignores international norms and threatens the territorial integrity of its neighbor [Guyana, with whom Caracas disputes the Essequibo region], then we must ask ourselves:
what is the point of this organization?
We are conducting a review of our country’s continued involvement here and, frankly, I am unclear how this review will end.”
The 2nd-ranking U.S. diplomat, who represents Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the assembly, cited the OAS response to the crisis in Venezuela as an example, where dictator Nicolás Maduro assumed a new mandate despite allegations of fraud from the opposition and much of the international community.
Landau recalled that last year a security mission led (https://t.me/tupireport/16394) by Kenya was sent to Venezuela with UN approval but stressed that “the United States cannot continue to bear this heavy financial burden alone.”
“If the OAS is unwilling or unable to play a constructive role in Haiti, we seriously question why it exists.
It is time for the OAS to show results, to support the people of Venezuela and Haiti not just with words.
Changing the regime or ideology does not help — you will be held accountable again.”
More Posts About Brazil
UPDATES
Justice Carmen Lucia Speaks of "213 million small tyrants" to Justify Censorship
27 Jun 2025 - Minister Cármen Lúcia, of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF), once again repeated in a plenary session her formula for voting in favor of censorship - while claiming to oppose it - by stating that Brazil is home to “213 million little tyrants”
“Censorship is constitutionally forbidden, it is ethically forbidden, morally forbidden, and I’d even say spiritually forbidden.
BUT we also cannot allow ourselves to be in an agora [public square] with 213 million little sovereign tyrants.
The sovereign is Brazil, the sovereign is Brazilian law.”
Cármen Lúcia (https://t.me/tupireport/18028) had already used this formula when she voted in favor of censoring a documentary about the attempt on former president Jair Bolsonaro’s life.
The film was set to be released shortly before the 2022 election but had its premiere postponed by order of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
“One cannot allow the return of censorship under any argument in Brazil,” she stated. “BUT I see this as an extremely exceptional situation."
According to the minister, every citizen has “the right to criticize,” “the right to boo,” and “yes, the right to curse (https://t.me/tupireport/7248?single),” but “does not have the right to silence and lead to the death of people, of institutions, and of democracy” - whatever that might mean in the subjective interpretations of STF ministers, which will now need to be anticipated by reinforced content moderation teams from big tech companies.
“You can shout ‘I hate Minister Cármen Lúcia’; what you can’t do is shoot me in the street with a revolver—that you cannot do,” she said as an example, even though the court was not judging the criminal act of murder, but rather the limits of free speech.
Note
A historical method of tyrants is to accuse others of tyranny to justify their own.