TSE ministers discussed blocking political channels on WhatsApp on the eve of the election

The president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Kassio Nunes Marques, and the vice-president of the Court, André Mendonça, discussed with colleagues the possibility of imposing restrictions on WhatsApp channels with more than 200 thousand users in the 48 hours before the second round of elections, next Sunday (25).

The proposal, which was debated in recent days and divided the Court, would affect channels such as "Lula's Army", which has almost 8 million followers, and the "Tropa do Flávio" channel, which has 2.7 million.

In recent weeks, the messaging channel led by federal deputy André Janones (Rede-MG) generated clashes in the political scenario of the second round and became the target of legal disputes between the campaigns.

In a note, Minister André Mendonça's office reported that the members of the Court discussed the topic in two meetings, held on Friday (16) and Tuesday (20), and it was up to the minister to prepare a draft resolution, which would be submitted for evaluation by others.

"By tradition, it is up to the vice-president of the Court to draft the normative acts that the collegiate will assess. It was natural, therefore, that this task fell to Minister André Mendonça. The draft is not an individual initiative", states the office note.

The text continues: "The need for its elaboration is based on a joint understanding, the text is still under internal discussion, and any final version depends on the Court's collegiate deliberation."

According to the note, the objective discussed "is to protect the integrity of the election in the hours before and after voting, when there is no time to respond or correct illegal content."

Channel off air

The campaign of re-election candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) made official on October 13 the registration of the email address of the WhatsApp channel known as "Lula's Army" with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

The registration occurred after a series of impasses and legal clashes that the WhatsApp channel faced in the Electoral Court.

After registration, the president of the Court, Kassio Nunes Marques, stated that the tool could return to operation after a period of 48 hours set out in a resolution by the Electoral Court.

The back and forth began after Flávio Bolsonaro's (PL) campaign asked for the channel to be suspended for allegedly spreading false information. The case generated divergent decisions at the TSE between Nunes Marques, who ordered the suspension, and the general electoral inspector, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, who decided to keep the page active.

On Monday (12), a technical analysis by the TSE did not identify false content in the publications examined that were on the air. This Tuesday (13), Nunes Marques made the channel's operation conditional on formal registration with the Electoral Court, a requirement that was fulfilled by Lula's (PT) campaign.