RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Taking into account one of the orders of the judge of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes, Telegram deleted on Sunday, 20, posts of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, in which he criticized the electronic voting system.
On Saturday, 19, the judge recognized that the company had partially complied with his decisions and gave the platform another 24 hours to carry out the remaining orders and finally avoid the suspension of the application scheduled for this Monday, May 21
In addition to the censorship of Bolsonaro’s posts, the orders that have not yet been fulfilled are:
- the indication to the court of the official representation of Telegram in Brazil;
- the censoring of a channel investigated in the so-called Fake News investigation;
- and the provision of information on measures taken to combat so-called disinformation and the spread of so-called fraudulent news, “including the terms of use and the penalties provided for users guilty of such behavior.”
What qualifies as ‘disinformation’ and ‘fraudulent news’ in the eyes of the Justices remains to be seen. Critics say it is nothing more than a fancy word for censorship of dissenting opinions on key political issues.
The outstanding orders were listed after Telegram founder Pavel Durov apologized for his “negligence” in contact with the Supreme Court. The company approached the high court to say it had carried out part of the orders issued by Alexander.
On Thursday, 17, the Justice decided to suspend Telegram in the country in response to a request from the Federal Police. The decision was announced on Friday, 18.
TELEGRAM IS CENTRAL FOR BOLSONARISTAS
The Bolsonarists stand for the freedom of the people, especially freedom of expression, against Covid-19 health tyranny, against the Covid vaccines as the sole treatments, against compulsory vaccinations, were against mandatory masks, and are now against the condemnation of Russia.
Jair Bolsonaro is therefore profoundly hated by the Brazilian establishment, most of them left-wing sympathizers, facing not only a hostile press in his own country but also a Supreme Court allied with the left, which has seized de facto government power and is doing everything it can to bring “its” candidate Lula da Silva to power in the presidential elections in October.
Telegram is the platform of choice of president Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters (Bolsonaristas) for mass communication. The head of state was elected in 2018 amid reports of a multimillion-dollar defamatory scheme whereby international numbers sent hundreds of millions of vitriolic messages attacking his then opponent through the app.
Brazil’s electoral court is trying everything it can to impose its official narrative by limiting and controlling the information available to the public and removing any instrument that does not comply with their demands.
Observers say Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) was already in December 2021 considering banning Telegram during the run-up to the October elections to ensure their ally leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has all the advantages necessary to win the presidential elections.
“It’s cowardice what they are trying to do,” Bolsonaro told supporters when asked about the possible banning of Telegram. “We are dealing with that,” he added at the end of January 2022.
Social media platforms were vital to Bolsonaro’s election in 2018, and the President still actively uses Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook, where he does a weekly live stream for supporters.
But he and his children have increasingly turned to Telegram because the app, which was born in Russia and is now based in Dubai, does not limit the size of groups or message recipients (mass messaging) and does not censor any content as most other social media do.
Telegram is a thorn in the eye of most global authorities because it usually does not censor any content and guarantees its users total freedom of expression.
The TSE claims there is no way to control the spread of “fake news and hate messages” in Telegram, unlike other networks cooperating with Brazilian authorities.
But the truth is, much of what is considered “preventive measures to combat fake news or disinformation” is nothing other than blatant censorship against any content that questions or criticizes the official narrative.
Bolsonaro, therefore, says that Brazil lives a dictatorship that comes ‘by the pens’.
The TSE has partnered with almost all major social media platforms to curb what it calls “fake news and the spread of conspiracy theories” about the legitimacy of the Brazilian electoral system, Barroso said a couple of weeks in a statement.
In other words, the TSE is trying everything it can to impose its official narrative by limiting and controlling the information available to the public and removing any instrument that does not comply with their demands.
LANDMARK PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN FALL 2022
Brazil’s left follows closely the orders from the globalist in the US and Europe.
Therefore, who will be the new president of Latin America’s largest country and the second-largest U.S. economy in the fall of 2022 is crucial.
If it is Bolsonaro, one can be sure that the freedom of citizens will continue in Brazil to be the standard for all government actions.
If it is leftist Lula da Silva, Brazil will once again become a recipient of orders from the Western powers, as we have known for decades.
At a time when other countries of the South, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China, are increasingly going their own way and escaping Washington’s dictates, it would be wrong if the food superpower Brazil, as a South American giant, did not also distance itself from the geopolitical interests of the West and remember what it really is: a power to be reckoned with.