Minister Cármen Lúcia stated this Friday (13) that former president Jair Bolsonaro violated press freedom by blocking journalists from X.
The judge analyzed an action by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism presented in July 2021. The entity pointed out the blocking of at least 65 professionals.
Cármen Lúcia closed the process as she understood that there was no role for the STF. Since January 2023, Bolsonaro no longer holds the position of president.
Currently, the former president is serving a sentence of 27 years and 3 months at home for the coup plot. He is banned from using social media.
Minister Cármen Lúcia, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), stated, in a decision this Friday (13), that former president Jair Bolsonaro violated the constitutional guarantee of press freedom and offended the right to information by blocking journalists on the social network X during his term in office.
🔎She made the statement when analyzing an action by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji), which was closed by Cármen, since Bolsonaro is no longer president.
According to the minister, platforms are prominent in public and political debate, especially for the circulation of ideas. Cármen Lúcia highlighted that the former president's profile was public and dealt with government acts and matters.
In the minister's assessment, a government official cannot exclude a citizen from public debate for ideological and political reasons and this becomes more serious if the blockade involves journalists, who work to monitor public power.
"The exclusion of someone from the virtual agora to which the then President of the Republic presented himself in governmental and, therefore, political matters, from the polis, which belongs to everyone, means eliminating the citizen from the public demonstrations of someone who has committed to performing the role of representative of the citizen who is intended to be eliminated from that public space", stated Cármen Lúcia.
"Representative cannot hide from the represented, even less so, in a Republic, excluding from the virtual republican agora anyone who is not to their liking or interest. No one is the ruler of a Republic of themselves. Due to ideological or political like or dislike, citizens cannot be removed from the public debate", added the minister.
Cármen Lúcia also said that the responsibility arising from the position of President of the Republic does not allow the removal of acts posted and published as a representative of all Brazilians.
"By excluding a citizen from the
The judge pointed out that the "situation becomes even more serious when the accounts blocked by public authorities belong to journalists".
The minister analyzed an action by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) presented in July 2021 to the Supreme Court.
The entity alleged that Bolsonaro had, at that time, blocked at least 65 journalists from X. Bolsonaro's defense spoke out and denied the existence of an illegal or abusive act.
Cármen Lúcia highlighted that a request similar to Abraji's, made by an influencer, began to be analyzed in November 2020 by the virtual plenary of the Supreme Court, but Minister Nunes Marques asked that the case be taken for analysis by the in-person plenary. And it was only in May of this year that the minister canceled the request.
In the decision, the minister stated that the Supreme Court's role is no longer responsible because Bolsonaro has left the Presidency.
"Since January 2023, Jair Bolsonaro has not been president, therefore, this condition can no longer be considered for the purposes of this petition, especially considering the particular nature of the profile with which he carried out the act identified as a coercer," he said.
"The blocking of journalists was not carried out by an official account linked to the Presidency of the Republic, but by the profile of a person who, between 2019 and 2022, held the position of head of the Executive Branch of the Union", he added.
Sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison in the so-called coup plot, Bolsonaro is currently serving his sentence at home and is prohibited from using social media.
