Flávio Bolsonaro tries to take down Janones' pro-Lula channel, and TSE demands clarification

The electoral inspector general, minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), determined this Saturday (10) that senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), candidate for President, present within 72 hours clarifications on the requests made in an action against President Lula (PT), vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) and federal deputy André Janones (Rede-MG).

In the action, Flávio Bolsonaro requests the revocation of the registration or diploma of the party formed by Lula and Alckmin, in addition to the declaration of ineligibility of those responsible for the alleged abusive practices.

The campaign also wants the Electoral Court to suspend the WhatsApp channel "Lula's Army" and the @janones.apoio profile on Instagram, order the removal of publications considered irregular, stop the promotion of content and ensure the preservation of digital data.

In the decision, the minister pointed out the need to clarify whether the requested measures are already the subject of other actions in the Electoral Court and to define the scope of the requests before analyzing the granting of urgent measures.

Flávio's campaign accuses Janones of coordinating a structure to disseminate misinformation and attacks against the candidate through the WhatsApp channel "Lula's Army", which had around 1.9 million followers on October 7 and now exceeds 3 million.

According to the action, the deputy distributed "missions" to the channel's members, instructing them to share publications on social networks and WhatsApp groups. The campaign also maintains that Janones used public resources to promote negative content against Flávio.

On social media, Janones stated that Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign is trying to take down the "Lula's Army" channel on WhatsApp just as the group was preparing to intensify the mobilization of supporters in the second round.

According to the deputy, he had already met with Lula's team to define the content that would be released and the president had committed to recording new videos to attract more participants to the channel.

The minister ordered Flávio to inform whether similar measures had already been requested in other processes and present any decisions on the topic. The candidate must also specify the irregularities attributed to each publication, identify the advertisements that would still be active and detail what data they intend to preserve.

The minister also gave five days for the campaign to present the original digital files mentioned in the initial petition, such as videos and messages, which were not included in the electronic process. According to the decision, the measure is necessary to allow the checking of evidence and guarantee the right of defense of those being investigated.

Despite postponing the analysis, the inspector admitted the processing of the Judicial Electoral Investigation Action and ordered Lula, Alckmin and Janones to be notified to present their defense within five days.

The minister highlighted, however, that receipt of the action does not mean recognition of the accusations, which will still be examined by the Electoral Court. The minister also denied the request for confidentiality of the process, except for the possibility of protecting specific information.