Brazil's Attorney General Urges Supreme Court To Dismiss Challenges Against Social Media Ban

According to Cointelegraph, Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has called on the Supreme Court to reject legal actions contesting the ban on social media platform X. The PGR contends that suspending Elon Musk’s platform does not infringe on free speech rights and asserts that the lawsuits challenging the ban lack legal merit. This follows Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s decision to block the platform on August 30 after it failed to appoint a local legal representative, as required by Brazilian law for social media platforms operating in the country.

Previously, X had refused to comply with orders from the Brazilian Supreme Court to remove content deemed harmful, including misinformation and extremist rhetoric. The PGR’s review of the case was prompted by appeals from the Brazilian Bar Association and the political party Partido Novo, which contested the platform’s suspension and a $9,000 daily fine for users accessing it through virtual private networks (VPNs). The PGR stated that the legal mechanism used in the appeals cannot be applied to challenge Supreme Court rulings, emphasizing that it is not theoretically permissible to raise a claim of noncompliance with a fundamental precept against an STF judicial decision.

Supreme Court Justice Marques Nunes, who is reviewing the appeals, is expected to refer the case to the court’s plenary only after the country’s municipal elections in October. The court’s panel had previously upheld Moraes’s decision to ban the platform on September 2. The controversy between Musk and the Supreme Court has also sparked intense debates among Brazilian lawmakers. Some representatives have defended Musk’s claims of censorship, citing concerns about free speech, while others have condemned his actions as a threat to Brazil’s sovereignty and called for regulation of social platforms. Conservative congressman Nikolas Ferreira criticized the lack of transparency in blocking social media accounts, while Congressman Ivan Valente argued that Musk’s actions undermine Brazil’s national sovereignty.