CEO of US online social media and social networking service
Facebook Mark Zuckerberg reacts upon his arrival for a meeting with
European Commission vice-president in charge for Values and
Transparency, in Brussels, on February 17, 2020. Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD
/ AFP
Facebook condemned Saturday what it called an “extreme” ruling
by a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordering it to block the
accounts of 12 high-profile allies of President Jair Bolsonaro,
which it vowed to appeal.
Brazil’s Supreme Court is overseeing an investigation into
allegations that members of the far-right president’s inner circle
ran a social media campaign to discredit the court, as well as
slander and threaten its judges.
As part of that probe, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered
Facebook to suspend the accounts of 12 Bolsonaro allies, and
Twitter another 16 accounts.
The US social media giants complied on July 25 — but initially
only blocked visitors in Brazil from viewing the accounts.
The blocked users soon skirted the ban by telling their
followers how to change their account settings to another
country.
Moraes then ordered the US social media giants Thursday to
enforce the suspension worldwide.
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When Facebook did not initially comply, saying it would appeal
to the full Supreme Court, Moraes fined the company 1.9 million
reals ($365,000) and issued a summons for its top executive in
Brazil, Conrado Lester.
“This new legal order is extreme, posing a threat to freedom of
expression outside of Brazil’s jurisdiction and conflicting with
laws and jurisdictions worldwide,” Facebook said in a
statement.
“Given the threat of criminal liability to a local employee, at
this point we see no other alternative than complying with the
decision by blocking the accounts globally, while we appeal to the
Supreme Court.”
The row comes as Facebook and Twitter face increasing pressure
in the United States and around the world to act more aggressively
against hate speech and false information on their platforms.
In Brazil, it is part of ongoing tension between Bolsonaro and
the high court, which has also ordered a probe into allegations the
president obstructed justice to protect members of his inner circle
from police investigations.
The affected accounts include high-profile figures such as
conservative former lawmaker Roberto Jefferson, business magnate
Luciano Hang and far-right activist Sara Winter.
-AFP
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