Supreme Court Investigates Pro-Bolsonaro Fake News Network and Attacks on Court

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the Federal Police to investigate the relationship between a WhatsApp messaging network favoring President Jair Bolsonaro, active since past elections and disclosed by UOL in September, and the attacks suffered by court justices on the Internet in recent times.

The request was made within the so-called fake news inquiry, opened by the Supreme Court itself under the command of Justice Moraes. The UOL news report revealed that a pro-Bolsonaro fake news distribution network, with the use of robots and mass messaging, has not been fully deactivated after the elections.

Many phone lines used in the polls during the elections are used today to administer public WhatsApp groups in favor of Bolsonaro’s government. In part of these groups, only the administrator can send messages – they operate as “transmission lists”.

Now, the STF wants to know if the same structure is used to diffuse the attacks and threats to the Justices that led to the opening of the inquiry in court.

On March 19th, an order from Alexandre de Moraes showed that one of the lines of investigation in the inquiry opened by the STF was “the ascertainment of the existence of funding schemes and mass diffusion on social media, in order to damage or threaten of injury to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”.

In an interview that day, the Justice confirmed the suspicion. “This network is paid for, someone is financing it for some reason,” he told journalists. He said the case would be “thoroughly investigated. “There are strong suspicions that the largest funding groups are from São Paulo.”

Accounts canceled

In another inquiry, the Federal Police is investigating the case to find out who paid for the mass messaging service companies. WhatsApp has canceled at least 1.5 million Brazilian user accounts since past elections for using robots, mass messaging and spreading fake news.

Recently, WhatsApp’s manager of public policy and global elections, Ben Supple, publicly admitted that there was illegal mass messaging employed in Brazil’s elections, as demonstrated by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

“In last year’s Brazilian election, there was the activity of companies that provided massive messaging to reach a large number of people, which violated our terms of use,” he said.

Supple said that WhatsApp discourages the use of groups as if they were transmission lists. “We see these groups as sensationalist tabloids, where people want to spread a message to an audience and usually spread more controversial and problematic content,” he said.

“Don’t join these big groups with people you don’t know; leave these groups and report them.”

Last week, UOL showed that the Justice’s investigation has met with resistance from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which has already ordered the filing of requests for investigation stemming from the STF’s inquiries.

Controversies about the STF’s investigation

Origin

In March, Federal Supreme Court President Dias Toffoli opened an inquiry to investigate fake news, threats and slanderous, defamatory and insulting offenses against fellow justices and their families. He appointed Justice Alexandre de Moraes as rapporteur.

How did the Prosecutor General view this?

The then Prosecutor General, Raquel Dodge, said the investigation was unconstitutional, violated due process of law and breached the prosecution system, according to which the body that judges can not be the same that investigates.

The new prosecutor general, Augusto Aras, who took office in September, said he did not see the investigation as null and said he was against the closing of the investigation, as his predecessor argued.

What are some of the contentious points?

Toffoli started the investigation sua sponte, without a petition filed by another body, which is unusual. For critics, the investigation should have been referred to the Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, Moraes was chosen to preside over the investigation without a random draw or consultation of the full court.

What the law provides

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the closing of an investigation requires the judge’s assessment (Article 28). In the same vein, the STF’s internal regulations provide that it is the rapporteur’s responsibility to order the opening or closing of an investigation when the Prosecutor’s Office so requests (Article 21).

Next steps

An action by political party Rede challenges the investigation, and the case should be taken to the Supreme Court at the request of the rapporteur, Justice Edson Fachin. The trial has no deadline to occur.

Developments

The STF has split up the investigation, sending requests for investigations of specific cases to the Federal Police, in a move to place them within the normal procedural framework and try to ensure that they are pursued in lawsuits.

In August, Justice Alexandre de Moraes extended the investigation for the second time for 180 days, or until mid-January 2020.

Source: Folhapress