Brazil’s Justice Fux Revives Ban on False Aparecida Posts Days Before the Vote
ELECTION 2026 · BRAZIL
Key Facts
- —The country Brazil, Latin America’s largest democracy, elects a president on Sunday 4 October. Eleven justices sit on its Supreme Court (STF); a separate electoral court runs the vote.
- —What happened On Monday 28 September Justice Luiz Fux suspended a Sunday ruling by Justice Flávio Dino. X, Meta, ByteDance and Google got 24 hours to take false Aparecida posts down again.
- —Who is involved Candidate Flávio Bolsonaro asked Fux to act. The same day, electoral-court president Kassio Nunes Marques warned Supreme Court president Edson Fachin of “democratic erosion” (G1, 28 September).
- —What it means for you Posts claiming as fact that Flávio Bolsonaro plans to demote Brazil’s patron saint face removal again. Criticism, satire, opinion and religious debate stay allowed under the orders.
- —Still open Whether Fachin puts both rulings to the full court on Wednesday 30 September, as G1 and Correio Braziliense reported he may, and how the justices vote.
One Brazilian Supreme Court justice has frozen another’s ruling, and an order against false Aparecida posts is back in force. The move came on Monday night, six days before the presidential vote.
Justice Luiz Fux suspended a decision Justice Flávio Dino had signed on Sunday, restoring an electoral-court takedown order. It is the latest turn in a patron-saint row that has pulled in bishops and judges.
What Fux ordered
The false claim says candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son, wants to demote Our Lady of Aparecida. He denies it, and his lawyers call it “objectively false”, Poder360 and Correio Braziliense reported.
On 25 September Justice André Mendonça ordered such posts removed. He acted as the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) judge for campaign propaganda; the TSE runs and polices elections.
His follow-up order cited reports of 2,086 posts from 1,674 accounts, with more than 21 million views. It set a daily fine of R$50,000 (about US$9,600) per platform, at R$5.19 per dollar on 29 September.
Dino voided those orders on Sunday at the request of comedian Antonio Tabet, as this outlet reported. Fux’s 33-page decision suspends “all effects” of Dino’s ruling until the full court decides.
X, Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance and Google must restore their earlier compliance within 24 hours. Refusal risks a fine for contempt and a charge of disobedience, a crime in Brazil.
Who has the last word
Fux’s core argument is about jurisdiction, not the posts themselves. The Constitution, he wrote, reserves to the electoral court’s full bench “the last word on electoral matters”, with narrow exceptions.
“Between two single-judge decisions that contradict each other, the last word belongs to the plenary,” he added. He stressed he had not annulled Dino’s ruling, only paused its effects.
He also objected to how the case reached Dino. Tabet filed inside an unrelated case Dino already handled, instead of a new complaint assigned by lottery.
The next day the Solidariedade party used the same case to challenge how the TSE picks its campaign-propaganda judges. Dino’s ruling “closed the door of the lottery and opened that of a rapporteur”, Fux wrote; his own reverses that.
Neither Mendonça nor Flávio Bolsonaro was heard, and the prosecutor-general’s office had not given its view, he noted. “Does it make sense for this Supreme Court to order the spread of provably false news? No!”
“This is not about minimising freedom of expression, but about fighting the abuse of the right,” Fux added. G1 and CartaCapital reported the decision’s key passages.
The electoral court pushes back
Earlier on Monday, TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques met Fachin and then sent him a formal letter. He voiced “elevated concern” about “repeated episodes of undue overlap of jurisdiction”, G1 and Correio Braziliense reported.
He warned of a “risk of institutional capture” that could bring “democratic erosion”. He asked Fachin to filter how urgent election petitions are assigned, CartaCapital reported.
Nunes Marques and Mendonça were appointed by Jair Bolsonaro; Dino was President Lula’s justice minister. Fux joined the court in 2011 and presided over it from 2020 to 2022.
The case for Dino’s ruling
Tabet’s post on X said the “militia family” hated Black women enough to attack the patron saint. It named no one; Aparecida’s statue is dark-skinned.
Dino ruled that removing it meant presuming the phrase referred to Flávio Bolsonaro. He also warned against a court order that shuts down religious debate, CartaCapital reported.
Dino himself sent his ruling to the full court on Monday and asked Fachin for an in-person session. Fux asked for both rulings to be judged together, so the 11 justices will decide which order stands.
What Is Not Yet Known
Fachin has not formally confirmed the date. G1 reported he signalled Wednesday 30 September, and Correio Braziliense said the case should be heard that day.
It is not yet public whether all four platforms had removed the Aparecida posts again by Tuesday morning. Nor is it clear how many justices back Fux’s reading on jurisdiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Luiz Fux the president of Brazil’s Supreme Court?
No. Edson Fachin presides over the Supreme Court. Fux held that post from 2020 to 2022 and led the electoral court in 2018.
What were the Aparecida posts about?
They falsely claimed that candidate Flávio Bolsonaro wanted to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as patron saint. He denies it, and the electoral court called the claim notoriously untrue.
Does this change how Brazilians vote?
No. Voting dates and rules are unchanged. The dispute concerns which campaign posts may stay online before the first round on 4 October.
Sources: Decision of Justice Luiz Fux in RE 1.057.258, 28 September 2026 (full text via CartaCapital); Poder360, 28 September; G1 and G1, 28 September; Correio Braziliense and Correio Braziliense, 28–29 September; CartaCapital and CartaCapital, 28–29 September. Exchange rate: open.er-api.com, 29 September 2026.
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