The US President’s media company, and the Rumble video platform filed a joint action in a federal court against the Minister of (Supreme Federal Court). The process was filed in District in Florida where Rumble is headquartered.
The platforms claim that recent orders of Moraes determine that Rumble closes the account of the scholarship influencer Allan dos Santos and provides his user data violates the sovereignty of the country and the country’s laws. Moraes’ orders were issued confidentially and prohibit that Rumble disseminates its content.
Rumble left Brazil in December 2023 due to what as several “unfair orders of censorship” issued by Moraes to ban the platform creators and public figures, including parliamentarians.
At the time, Moraes determined that Rumble kept confidentiality about these orders, threatening the company with the interruption of its services in Brazil if it did not immediately comply with it. The decision of the platform from leaving the country was to avoid the imposition of fines by the Brazilian court. In a similar context, Moraes ordered last August the suspension of social network X (formerly) in Brazil for not complying with determinations for removing profiles and posts.
This journalist obtained one of these confidential orders in January 2023. The document, addressed to multiple platforms, granted a period of only two hours to meet the requirements, under penalty of substantial daily fines. Given this pressure, Rumble chose to end its operations in Brazil.
With the new Trump administration, promising to protect the freedom of expression of US companies against censorship imposed by foreign governments, and with Moraes recently revoking the order that blocked the monarch podcaster account in RUMBLE, the platform in Brazil earlier this month. Almost immediately, the minister sent new determinations to the former Rumbled Divades in Brazil, instructing them to continue representing the company so that they could receive their orders.
The new measure of Moraes that is at the center of the process requires Rumble to permanently end the account of Allan dos Santos and prevent the creation of new profiles. Unlike previous orders, this determination is not limited to blocking Allan dos Santos’s content in Brazil, but requires its total removal from the platform, preventing it from using and monetizing Rumble anywhere in the world. As in previous decisions, the platform had only two hours to meet the requirement.
Allan dos Santos faces criminal accusations in Brazil related to the alleged dissemination of misinformation about the STF and the 2022 elections. Crimes in the US as they are protected by the right to freedom of expression.
Extradition treated usually prevent a country from extraditeing a foreigner if the acts in question are not crimes in the country receiving the request. The request for political asylum in the US is still pending, and he legally resides in the country.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said the American rejection of the extradition request should have closed the Moraes attempts to silence Allan dos Santos in the US. However, he said, “Moraes is now trying to circumvent the American legal system completely, using confidential orders of censorship to press US social networks to ban the political dissident globally.”
Rumble’s lawyer E. Martin de Luca of Boies Schiller argued that, as a US legal resident, Allan dos Santos has his freedom of expression fully protected by the first amendment of the American Constitution. The purpose of the action, he said, is “to ensure that US companies remain under the jurisdiction of US laws and that no foreign court can unilaterally dictate which speeches are allowed on US unauthorized US platforms.”
US technology giants have been mobilizing so that the Trump government assists them against content moderation regulations imposed by foreign governments, which they consider political censorship. In January, the CEO of the goal, announced the verification of facts and asked the US government to protect technology companies against foreign governments that “are attacking US companies and pressing for more censorship.” Asked about the subject, Trump expressed support for change.
Trump media lawyers argue that any attempt to restrict Rumble’s operations in Brazil would also hurt Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. (Trump Media), owner of the Truth Social platform. Rumble provides cloud services that support Truth Social, and any blockade imposed on the platform could destabilize Trump’s company, giving it a legal basis to contest Moraes’s decisions.
The political implications of this process can be as or more significant than legal ones. Important figures of the New Trump government have already shown hostility in relation to Moraes and what they consider a growing censorship regime in Brazil. The framing of Moraes’ orders as attacks on American sovereignty, US companies, and the freedom of expression of US residents has the potential to intensify tensions between Moraes and their new influential adversaries in the US.
Among these opponents is, a great influence on the new US government. During the clash between X and the STF, Musk attacked hard, calling him “a tyrannical dictator disguised as a judge” and a “criminal”. In August, Musk published an image generated by artificial intelligence showing Moraes behind the bars “One day, @alexandre, this picture of yours in prison will be real. Mark my words.”
Trump’s media decision to join Rumble in the process against Moraes clearly indicates that the new American administration will be able to buy the fight against the minister’s orders. So far, the Trump government has avoided direct measures against Brazil, such as tariffs and sanctions. However, this lawsuit can intensify latent conflicts between the two governments.
In addition to seeking a decision that declares the order of illegal Moraes under American legislation, the process also asks Apple and Google to be prevented from following any determination of the minister from removing apps from the social Truth and Rumble from their online stores. In addition, it requests a jury trial to evaluate the validity of the company’s allegations against Moraes.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has a contract with Rumble, where he displays his online program and maintains exclusivity for 12 hours; Rumble does not exert editorial control or any other type of control over Greenwald journalism
