Brazil's Twitter Files: Independent Revelations on Online Censorship.
Welcome to TwitterFilesBrazil.com, your dedicated portal to unraveling the complex web of social media censorship, with a particular focus on the Brazilian electoral period.
This site is an independent initiative to share the striking findings of Michael Shellenberger, David Ágape, and Eli Vieira — journalists and researchers who, although not directly associated with us, have brought to light internal communications between Twitter executives and Brazilian authorities, unveiling a scenario of political influence and control previously unknown to the public.
Our mission is to offer a space for transparency, where these documents can be freely accessed, and to foster an open dialogue about the implications of these censorship practices on freedom of speech and democracy. Here, you will find a meticulous compilation of data, analyses, and coverage from national and international media, providing a broad and unfiltered view of the events that have shaped public debate.
Join us in our mission to bring clarity and awareness about the challenges faced by society in the digital age, advocating for a future where communication is free and not curtailed by hidden interests.
Twitter Files - Brazil
Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes. De Moraes has thrown people in jail without trial for things they posted on social media. He has demanded the removal of users from social media platforms. He has required the censorship of specific posts without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them.
Now, Twitter Files, released here for the first time, reveal that de Moraes and the Superior Electoral Court he controls engaged in a clear attempt to undermine democracy in Brazil. They:
- illegally demanded that Twitter reveal personal details about Twitter users who used hashtags he did not like;
- demanded access to Twitter’s internal data, in violation of Twitter policy;
- sought to censor, unilaterally, Twitter posts by sitting members of Brazil’s Congress;
- sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president Jair Bolsonaro.
The Files show the origins of the Brazilian judiciary’s demand for sweeping censorship powers, the court’s use of censorship for anti-democratic election interference, and the birth of the Censorship Industrial Complex in Brazil. TWITTER FILES - BRAZIL was written by Michael Shellenberger, David Ágape, and Eli Vieira.
We presented these findings to de Moraes, the Supreme Court (STF), and the High Electoral Court (TSE). None responded. Let’s get into it.
“We are… pushing back against the requests...” On February 14, 2020, Twitter’s legal counsel in Brazil, Rafael Batista, emailed his colleagues to describe a hearing in Congress on “Disinformation and 'fake news.”
Batista revealed that members of Brazil’s Congress had asked Twitter for the “content of messages exchanged by some users via DMs” as well as “login records - among other info.”
Batista said, “We are… pushing back against the requests,” which were illegal, “because they do not meet [Brazilian Internet law] Marco Civil legal requirements for disclosure of user's records.”
Batista noted that some conservative Twitter users had gone to the Supreme Court “after they learned from the media that the Congress was trying to get their IPs and DM content. In light of this, the Supreme Court granted an injunction suspending the requirement given its failure to fulfill legal requirements.”
Context:
Brazil’s Supreme Court and Superior Electoral Court Seven justices comprise Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Three of those justices are also members of the Supreme Court (STF). One of them, Alexandre de Moraes, presides over the TSE.
Here's background on the rise of Brazil's Censorship Industrial Complex by David Ágape:
“Google, Facebook, Uber, WhatsApp and Instagram provide registration data and phone numbers without court order”
On January 27, 2021, Batista emailed his colleagues about a police investigation against him for refusing to give personal Twitter user data to the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor Office.
The Prosecutor claimed that Twitter’s “attitude is isolated, because all the other big technology companies such as Google, Facebook, Uber, WhatsApp, and Instagram provide registration data and phone numbers without a court order."
But Twitter “has not [sic] affirmative obligation to collect registration data” explained Batista to the prosecutor and “there is no phone number associated with the account under investigation.”
“This is the first time an actual criminal investigation was filed against an employee”
On February 18, 2021, Batista emailed his colleagues again to report back on his deposition. He said he told the prosecutor that “Twitter operates in Brazil since 2012 and this is the first time an actual criminal investigation was filed against an employee for allegedly non-compliance either with a request or a court order.”
Batista said he pointed out that “There is no affirmative obligation in the country for collection and consequently provision of 'registration data." Moreover, Brazil’s Internet privacy law, “Marco Civil… covers only:"
I - physical address; and
II - personal qualifications: understood as full name, marital status and profession" - none of them collected by Twitter.”
“We are unfortunately living strange times in Brazil.”
One month later, on March 18, Batista emailed his colleagues again, this time with, “Great news!”
A judge rejected the prosecutor’s request for “private user information absent a court order” and also “rebukes the prosecutor for forcing compliance through a non-existent obligation, without clarity about the purpose of the criminal investigation and most importantly, reinforcing that acts that seek to identify private and constitutionally protected information require previous judicial review.”
Batista's colleague Regina Lima replied to his email, “What Rafa forgot to mention is that the employee under threat here was him. The matter continued to escalate in a dangerous way, and his resilience throughout the process was amazing.”
She added, “We are unfortunately living strange times in Brazil. We are seeing a concerning trend on aggressive law enforcement requests and court orders restricting fundamental rights.”
“An unfortunate and surprising update.”
Then, on March 30, Batista emailed his colleagues again with “An unfortunate and surprising update”: the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor Office was back on the attack, “initiating a criminal proceeding” and claiming a “conflict of interest/lack of impartiality of the Judge.”
One week later, on April 5, 2021, Batista emailed his colleagues to say, “I am happy to share that we had great and relieving news…. The criminal court preliminary dismissed the charges against me mainly because it was not possible to identify any element of crime in my conduct.”
The ruling was because Twitter does not collect “registration data” of its users and the Marco Civil “clearly states that access to protected information such email - personal data - could only be done through specific judicial review.”
“Google Brazil… weakens our stance on privacy since we have always pushed back…"
On May 31, 2021, Batista wrote to his colleagues to lament that “Google delivered to the Brazilian Senate at least 200 gigs of videos that had been deleted from YouTube by people connected to the federal government” related to a Brazilian Senate investigation of the government’s response to COVID-19.
Batista called Google’s actions “a very concerning precedent… that contradicts and weakens our stance towards privacy since we have always pushed back against requests from congressional commissions, even when involving only basic subscribe info and IPs….”
In the same email, Batista noted that a member of Congress named Gleisi Hoffmann, who presides over Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party, and who had sued Twitter for “attacks against her honor,” seeking “private data and removal of some Tweets,” had finally dropped her lawsuit.
"Unmask several Twitter accounts..."
In the same email, Batista noted that a court in São Paulo had demanded that Twitter “unmask several Twitter accounts… related to criticism/alleged offenses against Fernando Capez, a Brazilian professor and politician, former congressman and currently special secretary in the São Paulo Consumer Protection Agency” who was “a defendant in criminal proceedings - recently a federal court seized millions of reais from his bank account and the Tweets are related to these facts. We will therefore push back against this court order…”
“We won't deliver any name at this stage…”
On June 11, 2021, Batista emailed his colleagues to say that the government had opened a criminal investigation against Twitter and that Brazilian “authorities are seeking the name and address of the person responsible for conducting the case internally at Twitter…”
Batista reassured his colleagues: “We won't deliver any name at this stage…”
“Even though the complaint is legitimate, the requests are unreasonable.”
Batista emailed his colleagues on June 14, 2021, to say that “Twitter was served last year with a 'complaint notice', which now was turned into a civil investigation against us.”
Batista explained that “The complaint was brought by Djamila Ribeiro, a Brazilian philosopher and journalist after racist offenses/hate crimes directed to her (no specific content has been provided though). Among several requests, she is seeking:
i) monitoring measures of all trending topics to avoid offensive content especially against black woman;
ii) disclosure of user information without court orders in racially motivated crimes;
iii) message triggers in a regular basis informing people about ethical and legal parameters of responsibility for what is published on social networks;
iv) standard messages/texts about such ethical and legal parameters to new users;
v) payment of collective moral damages."
Another case related to an “extreme right” blogger “akin to Alex Jones” named Allan dos Santos.
Twitter wanted to suspend the user, explained Batista, but “the user's history of litigating to keep their accounts active… we worry that the inherent messiness of the internal reviews [at Twitter] could make it challenging to explain the basis of a suspension action.
Therefore we've agreed to let the strike system play out, and have us take action when it is clear and unambiguous upon their next violation of our rules, which is just a matter of time considering his list of violations and recent Tweets on COVID issues/misinfo…”
Information “related to @CarlosBolsonaro (president's son)”
On July 2, 2021, Batista reported on an information request “related to Carlos Bolsonaro (president's son) - We received an official letter from the federal police supported by a court order seeking registration data from @CarlosBolsonaro.
Therefore, we are working on a reply where we will push back as follow
(i) Twitter does not collect registration data - which under BR definition refers to personal data such as professional qualification, address and full name;
(ii) it is not possible to provide data relating to a specific tweet - no IP available;
(iii) even if it were possible, the legal retention period of logs in BR are 6 months and it has already been exceeded - Tweets are from 2018; and
(iv) the profile @CarlosBolsonaro is a verified account."
“There is a strong political component with this investigation.”
On August 18, 2021, Batista emailed his colleagues to say that the Superior Electoral Court has demanded that the accounts of “heavy supporters of President Bolsonaro” who “have been constantly engaging in coordinated attacks against members of the Supreme Court” and “Superior Electoral Court… The court order is focused on the demonetization of these accounts - from different platforms…”
These demands appeared to be politically motivated to target pro-Bolsonaro sentiment. “Even though this obligation initially does not touch us, the court also determined Twitter, YouTube, Twitch TV, Instagram and Facebook to:
i) refrain from algorithmically suggesting profiles and videos of political content discrediting the electoral system (legitimacy of elections) in association with those users/accounts and also
ii) identify the origin of specific content (we have not been served with any specific Tweet URLs).”
Twitter’s Head of Legal Diego de Lima Gualda, a colleague of Batista’s, responded saying, “There is a strong political component with this investigation and the court is trying to put pressure for compliance.”
The “court wants to identify account handles… and also somehow reduce engagement.”
Two days later, On August 20, 2021, Batista reported some alarming news about new demands from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
Batista reported that “it seems like the court wants to identify account handles that would have specifically added certain types of trending hashtags and also somehow reduce engagement of specific content on the platform (ie. refrain specific accounts from being suggested to others.”
This represented a significant escalation in the court’s anti-democratic efforts. Batista noted that “President Bolsonaro himself and several of his supporters are being investigated in this procedure (15 Twitter account handles have been provided so far).”
“We are going to push back.”
Brazil’s High Electoral Court (TSE), which de Moraes controls, also demanded that Twitter reveal the identities of users.
On October 25, 2021, Twitter’s senior legal counsel, Rafael Batista, emailed his colleagues to let them know that the TSE was “compelling us to track down and unmask users who used specific hashtags.”
The TSE’s request was illegal, noted Batista, and so Twitter would resist the court’s order. Batista said that Twitter was “going to push back” because there was “no evidence of illegality in the use of hashtags” and because the TSE was demanding “mass and indiscriminate disclosure of private user data, which characterizes a violation of privacy and other constitutional rights."
On November 26, 2021, the courts of Brazil issued sweeping censorship demands.
A court of appeals orders Twitter to “globally remove,” not just in Brazil, “specific URLs related to the plaintiff.” The court claimed that Brazilians could find other ways to see the content, such as through a VPN, which masks a user’s location.
The court also sought to know the identities of users who were not in Brazil. In another case, Twitter was “pushing back against an injunction that granted data provision (IP logs) to unmask 62 accounts that retweeted an original illegal content…” Of the 62 accounts, “8 accounts are not even located in Brazil…”
The Police are “under a lot of pressure from the Superior Electoral Court.”
In March 2022, Twitter’s Head of Legal for Latin America said that he met with “the judge,” referring to de Moraes.
He said he was surprised to find there the Federal Police (Brazil’s FBI) and technical court staff working on the hashtag investigation.
TSE pushed for private user data under the justification of “exceptional circumstances” and wanted to use Twitter as a crime precognition machine to “anticipate potential illegal activities.”
Two months later, Gualda said that the Federal Police “is under a lot of pressure from the Superior Electoral Court to provide tangible results for this investigation (remembering that in this procedure the Federal Police is supporting an investigation that is conducted by the Superior Electoral Court itself).”
“There is no reason for this lawsuit to be under court secrecy.”
Leading up to the 2022 presidential election in Brazil, TSE made censorship demands to prevent citizens from commenting on election policies and procedures.
On March 30, 2022, the day after de Moraes took office as president of the TSE, the TSE mandated Twitter to, within a week and under the threat of a daily fine of 50,000 BRL (US$ 10,000), supply data on the monthly trend statistics for the hashtags #VotoImpressoNAO (“PrinteVoteNo”) and #VotoDemocraticoAuditavel (“DemocraticAuditableVote”).
Additionally, the TSE demanded subscription information and IP addresses of users who used the hashtag #VotoDemocraticoAuditavel in 2021. Brazilians wanted to debate printouts to enhance their unique voting machines, but the TSE wasn’t happy about their cause and pressured Twitter to give up their personal data.
In an e-mail sent in November 2022, a Twitter lawyer detailed actions taken by Moraes and TSE during the presidential race. The judge wouldn’t explain why he ordered Twitter to remove Evangelical pastor André Valadão’s (@andrevaladao) entire account under a heavy fine.
Twitter “filed an appeal against the order”, pointing out they didn’t know why they were being ordered to do so, but complying. TSE would threaten Twitter to comply “in 1 hour” under an hourly fine of BRL 100,000 [US$ 20,000] to censor an inactive account for disinformation committed elsewhere.
TSE also targeted elected House members Carla Zambelli (@Zambelli2210) & Marcel van Hattem (@marcelvanhattem) for alleged misinformation, threatening a fine of BRL 150,000 (US$ 30,000) if Twitter did not comply within 1 hour. Twitter pushed back. Among other objections, it argued that “there is no reason for this lawsuit to be under court secrecy.”
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