Chamber Committee approves motion to praise Elon Musk

The Public Security Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (April 9, 2024), in a symbolic vote, a request for a motion to praise the owner of X (former Twitter), Elon Musk. The request was presented by Colonel Meira (PL-PE) to the commission after the businessman’s escalation of criticism of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Alexandre de Moraes.

According to Meira, Musk deserves recognition “for exposing and confronting the political and unfounded censorship imposed by the Brazilian courts against platform users in the country”.

A motion of praise is a type of tribute paid to a person or event and does not need to be analyzed in the plenary.

The Casa Baixa Public Security Commission is formed mainly by deputies from the opposition to the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The party of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has the largest bench in Casa Baixa, with 95 congressmen.

Musk’s criticism of Moraes was praised by Bolsonaro congressmen on social media and even by Bolsonaro.

MUSK X MORAES

Alexandre de Moraes determined on Sunday (April 7) the inclusion of the owner of X as being investigated in the digital militias investigation, filed in July 2021 and which investigates groups for conduct against democracy.

The minister also opened a new investigation to investigate Elon Musk’s conduct. The magistrate wants the crime of obstruction of justice to be investigated, “including criminal organization and incitement to crime”.

Not Saturday (Apr 6), Elon Musk He asked why minister Alexandre de Moraes “No Brazil demands so much censorship”. The businessman responded to a publication by the minister in X on January 11th.

Musk’s comment came in the wake of accusations made by North American journalist Michael Shellenberger on Wednesday (April 3). According to Shellenberger, the minister has “led a case of widespread repression of freedom of expression in Brazil”.

The critical comments escalated the tone and Musk said that he is thinking about closing Twitter in Brazil and that he will publicize Moraes’ demands that violate laws. He also called the minister “tyrant”, “totalitarian” e “draconiano”saying he should “resign or be impeached”.

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TWITTER FILES BRAZIL

On Wednesday (April 3), North American journalist Michael Shellenberger published an alleged exchange of emails between employees of the legal sector of X in Brazil from 2020 to 2022 talking about requests and court orders received regarding the contents of their users.

The messages would show requests from various instances of the Brazilian Judiciary requesting personal data from users who used hashtags about the electoral process and content moderation.

Shellenberger specifically criticized STF minister Alexandre de Moraes, criticizing him for “leading a case of widespread repression of freedom of expression in Brazil”. According to him, Moraes issued decisions by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) that “threaten democracy in Brazil” when asking for interventions in publications by members of the National Congress and personal account data – which would violate the platform’s guidelines. The records of the processes mentioned in the case are confidential.

The case was called Twitter Files Brazil. The name is a reference to Twitter Files originally published in 2022, after Musk purchased X, in October of that year.

At the time, Musk delivered material to journalists that indicated how the social network, in the 2020 North American elections, collaborated with United States authorities to block users and suppress stories involving the son of the country’s presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The files published by journalists include email exchanges that reveal, to some extent, how Twitter reacted to requests from governments to intervene in the policy of publishing and removing content. In some cases, the social network ended up giving in.

In the Brazilian case, Musk was not indicated as the source who provided the material; however, the businessman escalated his criticism of Moraes for a few days.

This report was produced by journalism intern Maria Laura Giuliani under the supervision of assistant editor Isadora Albernaz.