Musk questions Lula’s nomination of Zanin to the STF

O dono do X (ex-Twitter), Elon Musk, questioned this Friday (April 12, 2024) the indication of the “personal lawyer” from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), Cristiano Zanin, to the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in 2023. The statement was made when commenting on a post on the portal The Incorrupt on the social network. The publication asked if anyone had already told the businessman about the appointment.

“The same lawyer who filed a lawsuit during the elections asked for the suspension of the social media accounts of 67 people identified as Bolsonaro supporters, with the loss of their political rights”said the publication.

MUSK X MORAES

Alexandre de Moraes determined on Sunday (Apr 7) the inclusion of the owner of X as being investigated in the digital militias inquiry, 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 between 2020 and 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 (Supreme Federal Court) 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” by 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 named Twitter Files Brazil in reference to the 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 criticized Moraes for a few days.

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