The new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, announced today that he wants to review suspension rules for Brazilian politicians who support the outgoing President, Jair Bolsonaro, who have had their accounts blocked for disseminating false information against the electoral process.
“It’s on my list to review. How urgent is this?” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter, in response to a commentator on the right-wing conservative portal Jovem Pan.
“Elon Musk, please take 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with the situation in Brazil and how freedom of expression has been curtailed with the (hopefully) inadvertent help or (perhaps) dishonesty of local policies and actions on Twitter.” wrote Roberto Motta.
Several ‘bolsonarista’ deputies and prominent figures closely linked to the incumbent Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, have seen their Twitter accounts suspended due to court rulings.
Deputy Carla Zambelli (who chased a man with a gun in his hands the day before the elections), Nikolas Ferreira, the most voted federal deputy in these elections, Deputy Daniel Silveira (sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison in April, for serious threats to the court and to democratic institutions), the deputy leader of the Government, José Medeiros, and the businessman Luciano Hang are some of the most important names who have their accounts suspended.
Encouraging illegal and anti-democratic protests that call for military intervention to change the election result and sharing false information about the election results are the main reasons that resulted in the suspension of the accounts.
With 100% of the votes counted, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s presidential elections by a narrow margin, receiving 50.9% of the vote, against 49.1% for Jair Bolsonaro, who was seeking a new four-year term.
Lula da Silva will assume the Presidency of Brazil again on January 1, 2023 for a third term, after having governed the country between 2003 and 2010.
