Last week, Google filed an appeal against the decision by Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes to take down the Workers’ Cause Party (PCO) channel on YouTube.
According to big tech, removing the channel, without indicating illicit content, besides the impediment of new publications, configures “previous censorship”.
In June 2022, Moraes ordered the blocking of the PCO accounts on YouTube and social networks after Revista Oeste news agency revealed posts by the extreme-left party calling for the dissolution of the STF and offending Justices of the Court.
After a first appeal by Google, Moraes’ understanding was upheld in November, in a collegial trial in the STF plenary, by nine votes to two – the only ones to disagree were Nunes Marques and André Mendonça.
Despite the criticism of the understanding, the company complied with the decision.
For Google, the vote of Moraes did not provide sufficient grounds for the maintenance of its previous decision.
The big tech’s lawyers argued that the appeal denial was based on “a single generalized assertion” that the company had not presented convincing arguments.
“Content deemed illicit can indeed be individually identified and removed, and those responsible held accountable; this premise, however, does not authorize blocking the entire channel,” Google argued.
Google also mentioned that the STF decision had omissions, as it did not justify the scope of the order of removal of the PCO channel indefinitely and did not show which content specifically was illegal.
With information from Revista Oeste