WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Rick Scott joined Representative Darrell Issa in sending a bicameral letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to demand the State Department take action on the censorship of free speech in Brazil by the country’s supreme court. The letter specifically details Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ decision to ban the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) from Brazil and levy fines against the platform and users. Joining Senator Scott and Congressman Issa on the letter are Senators Bill Cassidy, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Representatives Maria Salazar, Rich McCormick, Warren Davidson, Christopher Smith, Troy Nehls, Michael Rulli and Ben Cline.

The members wrote, “As you may know, in 2019, Brazil’s Supreme Court granted itself new powers to investigate speech. Justice Moraes then used these powers to compel social media companies operating within Brazil to censor dissent and deplatform opposition under the auspices of combatting “disinformation.” 

In doing so, Moraes has acted concurrently as judge, investigator, and prosecutor. In July 2019, he went so far as to authorize a raid of the homes and even imprison opposition activists and allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The Brazilian Supreme Court’s actions to ban social media platform X in the world’s seventh most populous nation is a grave breach of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, of which Brazil is a Member State. In fact, the Declaration’s preamble states, “human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech” and Article 19 asserts peoples’ “freedom of opinion and expression.” Further, Freedom of Speech is protected in Article 5 of the Brazilian Constitution, “expression of intellectual, artistic, scientific, and communication activity is free, independent of any censorship or license.”

Read the full letter here.

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