A delegation of Brazilian Bolsonaro parliamentarians participated this Tuesday, 7th, in a hearing at the American Congress, in washington, to discuss what they classify as “attacks against freedom of expression in Brazil”. Among the members were deputies Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG), Gustavo Gayer (PL-GO), Bia Kicis (PL-DF) and Filipe Barros (PL-PR).
The meeting, hosted by one of the subcommittees of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, comes in the wake of the report released in April by the Republican wing of the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives. The document brought together a series of confidential decisions by the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes to take down or suspend profiles on X (formerly Twitter). With 540 pages, the publication brought together demonstrations by deputies who classified Moraes as a “dictator”, mentioning the investigation ordered by the minister against Elon Musk, owner of X, and praising the billionaire’s stance for “refusing to comply with the STF’s requests for censorship. The session also takes place one day after the United States Chamber sent to the Organization of American States (OAS) a request for information on complaints regarding “censorship”, “violation of freedom of expression” and “abuses of authority” in the Brazil (Read at the end of the article).
The hearing this Tuesday, 7th, was chaired by the Republican deputy Chris Smith, chairman of the committee and one of the oldest American congressmen — he is in his 21st term for the state of New Jersey. Smith is one of the main spokespersons for Bolsonarism among the American right. In March, he had already tried to hold a hearing to address the same issue — the “restriction” of freedom of expression in Brazil —, this time at the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, but the meeting ended up being postponed after the intervention of a parliamentarian democrat. On the occasion, Smith organized a press conference with Brazilian parliamentarians, including Eduardo Bolsonaro, to denounce the measure.
See some of the testimonials:
- Michael Shellenberger, journalist responsible for the so-called ‘Twitter Files’
- Chris Pavlovski, CEO of Rumble (YouTube competitor)
- Fabio de Sá e Silva, Brazilian journalist
- Paulo Figueiredo, Brazilian journalist, grandson of dictator João Figueiredo, last president of the military dictatorship
https://x.com/BolsonaroSP/status/1787873293283823906
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https://x.com/filipebarrost/status/1787850603642695789
What was said
The deputy Chris Smith opened the hearing by saying that, since the end of 2022, Brazilians have been the target of “serious human rights violations committed by Brazilian authorities on a large scale”.
“The violations include political abuse of legal procedures to persecute political opposition, including the arrest of opposition figures on spurious charges, violations of freedom of expression and freedom of the media, harassment of journalists, silencing of opposition media, banning individuals from social media, veiled censorship laws claiming to combat misinformation and many violations of the rule of law”, he declared.
The congressman also said that the alleged violations were carried out with the assistance of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which acts as a “Ministry of Truth” — in reference to dystopia 1984, by George Orwell –, in an alleged attempt to combat disinformation. “In fact, the repression is largely carried out by one man, Minister Alexandre de Moraes,” said Smith.
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Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski stated that the fundamental rights of freedom of expression are “at risk” and that the platform has received requests from the Brazilian government to remove profiles that do not violate the platform’s rules. Rumble left Brazil in December last year, after disagreements with Brazilian justice
“For years, we’ve seen platforms shadowban [‘banimento fantasma’] of ideas they did not agree with, in a subtle suppression of opinions that were not the norm. Today, the censorship we see is much more perverse,” he said. “Governments are openly asking platforms to censor and take down content that is not favorable (…). Rumble has content guidelines. We received requests from the Brazilian government to block certain creators from our platform and again the content did not violate our terms and conditions but were of views not popular in Brazil at the time,” he stated.
Democratic opposition
Despite the Republican offensive, Democratic parliamentarians who are also part of the committee that hosted the hearing took a stand against the purpose of the meeting, which they classified as a way of “undermining Brazilian democracy”. “The audience that I believe we should have should be focused on the US-Brazil bilateral relationship, focused on the areas of cooperation in labor, climate, protecting the Amazon, combating hunger and expanding sustainable economic growth, stability, security and peace throughout the hemisphere”, declared the Democratic congresswoman Susan Wild.
“Instead of strengthening our relationship, a hearing like this only serves to undermine that relationship. Brazil is a vibrant and strong democracy, with a robust civil society and robust media. And an electoral system that is considered one of the safest and fastest in the world”, he stated, noting that debates on constitutional and legal issues should be decided by the Brazilian people and their elected representatives, as well as the Judiciary. “The United States Congress is not the forum for this,” he said.
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Request to the OAS
Last Monday, the 6th, the United States Chamber sent a request for information to the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding “censorship”, “violation of freedom of expression” and “abuses of authority” in Brazil. The document was signed by Republican deputy Chris Smith and was motivated by the decisions of Alexandre de Moraes who ordered the blocking and suspension of profiles on social networks maintained by those accused of involvement in the acts of January 8, 2023, at the headquarters of the Three Powers, in Brasilia.
