Octavio Fagundes

TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes. De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media. He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. And he has required the censorship of specific posts, without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them. Now, Twitter Files, released here for the first time, reveal that de Moraes and the Superior Electoral Court he controls engaged in a clear attempt to undermine democracy in Brazil. They: — illegally demanded that Twitter reveal personal details about Twitter users who used hashtags he did not like; — demanded access to Twitter’s internal data, in violation of Twitter policy; — sought to censor, unilaterally, Twitter posts by sitting members of Brazil’s Congress; — sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president @jairbolsonaro The Files show: the origins of the Brazilian judiciary’s demand for sweeping censorship powers; the court’s use of censorship for anti-democratic election interference; and the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil. TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL was written by @david_agape_ @elivieira & @shellenberger We presented these findings to de Moraes, to the Supreme Court (STF), and to the High Electoral Court (TSE). None responded. Let’s get into it...