FILE PHOTO: The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, observes during a ceremony of lowering the national flag at night, in the midst of the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, July 24, 2020. REUTERS / Adriano Machado
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro defied a Supreme Court order that blocked several of his followers’ profiles on social media amid an ongoing investigation into fake news, the right-wing president said using his own social media accounts on Saturday night.
The lawsuit, signed by Brazil’s president and attorney general, José Levi, says the ruling by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes violates the constitutional rights of the account owners.
The blocking of the accounts was effective as of Friday.
The Supreme Court suspended 16 accounts and 12 pages of digital influencers who defend Bolsonaro on social networks, including politicians, businessmen and political activists with Twitter (TWTR.N) and Facebook (FB.O) accounts. None of the suspended accounts belongs to employees of the federal government or has an official connection to the federal government, while all of them belong to supporters of Bolsonaro.
The role of the attorney general is to discuss the government’s current position on the issues.
Moraes said his order to block the accounts sought “to disrupt hateful criminal speeches.”
According to the president’s claim, the text of which was published by Bolsonaro on his own social media accounts, he was challenging Moraes’ order “to guarantee compliance with fundamental rights [including] freedom of expression and freedom of expression … ”
The president’s lawsuit demands the immediate unlocking of the affected accounts, arguing that blocking them “defies the Constitution.”
Report by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Written by Ana Mano; Editing by Daniel Wallis
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