By Arkady Petrov
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Married to journalist Glenn Greenwald, founder of The Intercept Brasil website, Federal Deputy David Miranda of the PSOL party submitted accusations of death threats to the Federal Police.
He lodged a criminal complaint with the Federal Police on March 13th, for having been threatened on social networks after taking over the seat of Jean Wyllys, also from the PSOL, in the Chamber of Deputies. Jean Wyllys was re-elected in 2018 but decided not to take office because of threats.
Miranda said that on Sunday, June 9th, he was once again threatened after The Intercept posted messages allegedly attributed to Justice Minister Sérgio Moro and Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol of Operation Lava Jato. As a result of these new threats, he lodged a new complaint with the Federal Police on June 11th.
In a statement released on Monday, June 17th, David Miranda said that Chamber President Rodrigo Maia provided him full support by the Chamber Legislative Police and that the threats would not interfere in his actions as a deputy.
“I continue to act with the same determination as before, in defense of social causes and human rights. I am concerned for my safety and that of my family and, to safeguard ourselves, I have made the appropriate referrals to the competent authorities,” reads the text.
Bots Post Fake News Against Greenwald on Twitter
Journalist Ivan Freitas published a video on his Twitter denouncing and demonstrating the work of bots to push up a hashtag about a suspicious account that brought fake news containing false accusations against Glenn Greenwald.
Through an examination of the number of posts per second made through the suspicious account, the journalist evidenced the work of bots in promoting the hashtag that, within a few minutes, was on the list of the most talked about topics on Twitter.
Freitas also points to references to Carlos Bolsonaro, son of president Jair Bolsonaro, who, according to him, seems to have orchestrated the action of bots to attack The Intercept’s journalist.