Brazil’s one-term populist president Jair Bolsonaro is a lot like Donald Trump. Both survivors of assassination attempts that rallied their far-right bases, the two “strongmen” have alleged voter fraud after losing elections, spread vile misinformation online, and have sons eager to please.
In the lead up to his election in 2018, Bolsonaro, who previously served seven consecutive terms representing Rio de Janeiro in Brazil’s lower congressional body, spread vicious lies about his opponents online. He won, defeating Fernando Haddad of the Workers’ Party, but made enemies on the Supreme Court for his malicious campaign tactics.
“The far right wants to seize power–not by saying they oppose democracy, because they wouldn’t gain public support, but by claiming that democratic institutions are rigged,” said Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who began investigating Bolsonaro’s digital presence in 2019.
De Moraes is an unlikely figure in this fight. He, like Bolsonaro, supported the military dictatorship that wreaked havoc on Brazil’s people from the 1960s through mid-80s. They also agree on social issues, in a similar vein to MAGA Republicans, most notably, opposing gay and transgender rights.
But when it comes to social media and free speech — the two men diverge.
Last year, de Moraes made a name for himself when he took on Elon Musk — owner of X and Starlink, which holds more than half of Brazil’s internet market — for refusing court orders demanding X remove accounts which had spread “fake news” online.
“How did Alexandre de Moraes become the dictator of Brazil?” Musk tweeted, adding “He has Lula on a leash” — in reference to Bolsonaro’s successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
In defiance of the rulings, Musk refused to comply. So the Supreme Court ruled to take the social media site offline — and it did, briefly, before Musk complied.
“I’m not afraid of you, fuck you, Elon Musk,” said Lula de Silva’s wife at the G20 summit in November, notably four days before the US presidential election, in which Musk spent upwards of $250 million to elect his amigo, Señor Trump.
Lies and disinformation run rampant across the digital globe. In some countries — like Russia and China — information online is controlled by the government. In places like America, once a bastion of free speech, Congress has been mute on reeling in the rights of Big Tech. This lets social media stars say whatever they like — in the name of free speech.
“Freedom of speech is not freedom to destroy democracy,” said de Moraes.
Strongmen like Bolsonaro and Trump go against their own argument when they say free speech must be protected. For it is not free speech they care about, it’s whether said speech falls in line with their views or not.
Just look at the US since Trump retook office less than 100 days ago — hundreds of international college students have had their visas revoked because of their participation in student protests last year.
So, which is it? Does free speech mean anyone can share their view? Or does it mean, only people who share the same views as those in power can speak?
Free speech, to me, means saying what you will — aware of the costs, willing to pay the price — and it should be protected. Why? Dissent is a necessary feature of democracy. But promoting false stories online in order to control the Other side of the screen is not free speech. That is propaganda.
More than half of all European countries are controlled by far-right regimes, and Latin America seems to be heading for a similar fate — a fad flamed by the rise of El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele. Who is to blame? De Moraes says: social media.
“If Goebbels were alive and had access to X, we would be doomed,” de Moraes said. “The Nazis would have conquered the world.”
Ashley Elizabeth Miller 
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