Conservative Brazilians laud Elon Musk at rally in support of ex-president Bolsonaro
Source: Associated Press
Conservative Brazilians laud Elon Musk at rally in support of ex-president Bolsonaro
Updated 4:43 PM EDT, April 21, 2024
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Conservative Brazilians heaped praise Sunday on Elon Musk at a rally in support of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, whose legal troubles are mounting in tandem with the billionaire entrepreneur’s feud with the South American nation’s Supreme Court.
“Brazil Thanks Elon Musk,” read one giant sign in English at the rally alongside Copacabana beach in the seaside city of Rio de Janeiro. Thousands of die-hard supporters of Bolsonaro attended.
Musk, a self-declared free speech absolutist, is a target in an ongoing investigation over the dissemination of fake news by supporters of Bolsonaro. Musk said the social platform X wouldn’t comply with a high court justice’s order to remove certain accounts accused of spreading disinformation.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who took over Twitter — now X — in late 2022, accused Justice Alexandre de Moraes of suppressing free speech and violating Brazil’s constitution. He noted on X that users could seek to bypass any shutdown of the social media platform by using VPNs, or virtual private networks.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-bolsonaro-musk-rally-e9de9f76f5510a46e7d507f99a6c7a16
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22.04.2024
An interview with
Estela Aranha
After Elon Musk boosted conspiracies about the persecution of Bolsonaro supporters, Brazil’s far-right was given a shot in the arm. The lawyer who debunked the story speaks about the new threat to Brazilian democracy: Big Tech.
The debunked 'Twitter Files Brazil' conspiracy went viral after being shared by Elon Musk. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
On 3 April, American journalist Michael Shellenberger posted a series of excerpts from emails by X (formerly Twitter) executives dubbed ‘Twitter Files Brazil,’ which alleged to expose crimes by Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Moraes, Shellenberger claimed, had pressed criminal charges against X Brasil’s lawyer for refusing to turn over personal information on right-wing political enemies. Elon Musk quickly shared the tweets. They went viral and were embraced by the international far right, to the joy of former President Bolsonaro and his supporters.
A week later, Estela Aranha, former Secretary of Digital Rights in the Brazilian Justice Ministry, revealed rot at the heart of Shellenberger’s narrative. The only criminal charge filed against X Brazil referenced in the leaked emails was made by the São Paulo District Attorney’s Office (not by the Supreme Court Justice) after the company refused to turn over personal data on a leader of Brazil’s largest cocaine trafficking organisation, the PCC.
Shellenberger had cut the section of an email about a São Paulo criminal investigation and mixed it with communications complaining about Moraes on unrelated issues. Pressed by Brazilian reporters, Shellenberger wrote, ‘I regret my mistake and apologise for it. I don’t have evidence that Moraes threatened to file criminal charges against Twitter’s Brazilian lawyer.’
More:
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/04/elon-against-lula/
