Another showdown between US tech platforms and Brazil – more to the point, Brazilian pro-censorship Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – has started, but compared to the events of last year, under dramatically different political circumstances in the US.
Rumble and Truth Social owners TMTG have just filed a lawsuit in Florida, alleging that Moraes’ secret censorship orders targeting US users violate their First Amendment rights and, back in Brazil, Moraes has chosen to continue with the same tactic he used in the past – increase pressure on those tech companies that challenge his censorship policies.
Here, the justice decided to go after Rumble, by giving the company 48 hours to comply with the order to inform the authorities about its legal representative in Brazil and provide proof of regular corporate status (essentially, establishing jurisdiction over the platform).
This is done as part of ongoing investigations into social platforms allegedly spreading “illegal content” and “attacks on democracy.”
The requirements related to legal representation are explained as necessary to ensure foreign companies can respond to court orders – “especially” those related to fighting “disinformation” and, “hate speech.”
Moraes wants Rumble to block the channel of Allan dos Santos, a dissident Brazilian journalist who is based in the US, prevent him from creating new ones, and also block financial transfers to Santos, who some Brazilian media reports refer to as “an influencer.”
Pavlovski’s posts on X on Thursday, a day after the lawsuit against Moraes was filed, read, “Make Brazil Free Again” – and, addressing all Brazilians, and stating that while he may not be one, “no one will fight harder for your freedom of expression rights than me. I will fight to the very end, relentlessly, without folding.”
The Rumble-TMTG lawsuit accuses Moraes of violating free speech protections afforded by the First Amendment by issuing an order to suspend the US-based account “of a specific well-known, politically outspoken user.”
The announcement of the lawsuit also noted that “neither Rumble nor TMTG have any entities, operations, employees, bank accounts, or businesses in Brazil,” while the Florida court is asked to declare Moraes’ demands “unenforceable in the United States.”
