World
BRASIL Brazil’s TSE reviewed cases over posts targeting Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula and ordered content removals
Brazil’s electoral court examined cases tied to negative campaign material in the presidential race on Tuesday. O Globo reported unanimous rulings to take down some posts, while a complaint against Janja da Silva was removed from the docket.
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, or TSE, reviewed cases on Tuesday involving campaign posts in the presidential race, including measures over material aimed at Flávio Bolsonaro and Lula, according to O Globo.
The newspaper said a complaint filed by Flávio Bolsonaro against first lady Janja da Silva over alleged irregular electoral propaganda was taken off the court’s agenda and was not heard during the session.
In another case, the Liberal Party, or PL, brought a complaint against lawmakers Lindbergh Farias and Rogério Correia, both from the Workers’ Party, over an Instagram post described as negative campaigning against Flávio Bolsonaro.
The Federação Brasil da Esperança also filed three complaints against the PL, Flávio Bolsonaro and the Dama de Ferro account on X over posts against Lula. In one of those proceedings, O Globo reported that Justice André Mendonça changed his original position and voted to grant emergency relief ordering the removal of a post that portrayed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as linked to criminal organizations. The other justices followed him, and the ruling was unanimous.
According to O Globo, Mendonça argued that the post used clipped excerpts of past statements out of context to convey to voters a strong association between the candidate and criminal groups. He also ordered the platform to remove the content within three hours if it was still online.
In another complaint by Federação Brasil da Esperança against Flávio Bolsonaro over an Instagram post, the defense argued, according to O Globo, that the video omitted the original context of statements to create the false premise that the president supported criminal factions and other illegal conduct. The court unanimously granted an injunction to take down that campaign material.
O Globo added that, in that discussion, Mendonça agreed with the outcome but said the key issue was not literal falsity alone, but the improper use of artificial intelligence under the court’s recent case law. Reporting by the newspaper said Justice Estela Aranha, the rapporteur in that case, found the campaign material irregular and pointed to TSE precedent barring unsupported links between candidates and criminal organizations.
The court also examined a complaint by Federação Brasil da Esperança against the PL over a video allegedly produced with artificial intelligence to simulate ties between Lula and criminal factions. O Globo reported that justices discussed whether the full URL should be taken down or only parts of the material, though several members agreed on removing the content deemed unlawful.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
