YouTube censors Bolsonaro’s 2021 live about ballot boxes

On Monday, July 18, YouTube removed the live broadcast by President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party – PL), where the president spoke about fraud in electronic ballot boxes during the 2018 elections.

The video was broadcast on July 29, 2021, on the president’s official social media pages.

To Power360, the platform said it is working to reduce the number of “misleading information” during the election period and, since March of this year, has removed content that raises suspicions about electronic voting in the 2018 elections.

“YouTube’s Community Guidelines set out rules that all platform users must follow. We have worked to keep our policies and systems up to date to give visibility to credible content and reduce the spread of misleading information while allowing political debate to take place,” the platform said in a statement.

“Since March 2022, we have removed content with false claims that Brazil’s electronic ballot boxes were hacked in the 2018 presidential election and that votes were tampered with. It is one of the examples of what we do not allow according to our policy against disinformation in elections.”

At the time, in the live, Bolsonaro criticized the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and defended the adoption of printed ballots. Alongside the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Anderson Torres, he said there is “solid evidence still in the deepening phase that leads us to believe that we have to change this electoral process. And he added: “We don’t have proof, let’s make this clear, but indications.

“There is no way to prove that the elections were not rigged or were rigged,” he said. He was accompanied by Eduardo Gomes, an intelligence analyst, special advisor to the Civil House, and a colonel.

During the broadcast, Bolsonaro questioned the then TSE president, Minister Roberto Barroso. “Why the ferocity of the president of the TSE in not wanting to discuss and not wanting to talk about a public vote count or a way to audit them?”

MEETING WITH AMBASSADORS

The president again raised suspicions about the electronic voting system and used similar arguments almost a year later during a presentation in Brasilia to ambassadors on Monday, July 18.

To the diplomats, the president refuted newspaper headlines and statements by TSE ministers and said that they constantly try to “destabilize” his government. Bolsonaro also talked about adopting the printed ballot – a proposal rejected in the Chamber of Deputies in August 2021.

Bolsonaro spoke about the secretive Federal Police (PF) investigation from 2018 about a hacker attack on the TSE. In August last year, the court sent a criminal notice to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) for the leak of inquiry by the president.

“It is an inquiry that has no secret classification,” he said. According to Bolsonaro, the 2020 elections could not be held without the inquiry’s conclusion. “Everything I speak here is either the PF’s conclusion or is direct information provided by the TSE,” he declared.

According to him, “hackers stayed for eight months inside the TSE computers.” He also denied that he is preparing a coup in the 2022 elections.

“Everything I’m going to talk about here is documented, nothing from my head. What I want most on the occasion of the elections is transparency. We want the winner to be the one who is actually voted for,” he said.

The president also defended the suggestions made by the military to the TSE. “All suggestions made by the Armed Forces can be fulfilled by October 2. And, if there is any extra expense, the Executive Branch will find the resources for it,” he said.

He also commented on the speech in which Minister Edson Fachin stated that elections “concern the civilian population” and that those who deal with the issue “are unarmed forces.”

“Why did they invite us? Did they think they were going to dominate the Armed Forces? Have they forgotten that I am the supreme chief of the Armed Forces? The Armed Forces would never participate in a farce,” he said.

In addition to Fachin, Bolsonaro also criticized ministers Barroso and Alexandre de Moraes, who are the TSE’s former and future presidents.

THE 2021 LIVE

During the 2021 live censored by YouTube, Bolsonaro showed a video by Jeferson, a programmer, who said it was possible to alter the source code of an electronic ballot box.

In this way, the voter would choose a certain candidate, and the correct photo would appear on the ballot box screen. But the database would record the vote for another candidate.

The ballot boxes are loaded with the programs with the candidates’ names, numbers, and pictures. This loading is done in a public ceremony inside the Electoral Justice building, supervised by representatives from all parties.

The ballot boxes are then sealed and are only opened on election day when they are plugged in – but not on the Internet. That is the argument used by STF, TSE, and leftist mainstream media. They claim it is very difficult for anyone to access the ballot boxes and make changes to the program.

Even if they are right and nobody can access these ballot boxes remotely, who is to guarantee that everyone involved in this process is being honest? Wouldn’t the reaction of an honest person or institution allow for criticism, questioning, and the auditing of results?

However, the reactions reflect those of someone who has something to hide. They forbid any questioning related to the safety and incorruptibility of these electronic ballot boxes and censor all criticism. They won’t even allow a paper receipt to be printed and insist we must take their word for it.

During the live broadcast, Bolsonaro gave an example that someone could divert 12 million votes, and there were videos of voters in 2018 saying they voted for Bolsonaro, whose number was 17, but the ballot box screen showed “null” or even the other candidate Fernando Haddad.

The live also used footage from the cable TV station GloboNews, from 2018, at the beginning of the count, pointing out Bolsonaro’s advantage and saying about the possibility of victory in the first round.

Anyone with a genuinely democratic mind would find it suspicious how so many so-called “serious” institutions and media outlets are trying to discredit Bolsonaro instead of getting to the bottom of this. Their mouth might say “democracy,” but their behavior demonstrates the opposite.

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