Dispute began when the platform refused to comply with determinations to remove profiles accused of attacks on democracy, such as blogger Allan dos Santos
The President of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Herman Benjamin, referred to the action filed by the American platform Rumble and Trump Media against the Minister of . The decision was made last Monday, 29, the same day Moraes assumed the vice presidency of the Supreme.
The lawsuit, filed in February in the United States, accuses Moraes of violating freedom of expression by sending orders to remove content from the social network and asks these decisions to be considered illegal in the American territory. In August, the Florida Federal Court notified the STJ for the minister to be summoned.
The case adds to the sanctions already imposed by the United States to Moraes. The magistrate had the visa canceled and was included in the magnitsky law list, mechanism used against dictators and organizations accused of corruption or human rights violations. The measure blocks access to the American financial system, preventing use of banks, brokerages and credit cards in the country.
Rapporteur of the action that condemned former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup d’état, Moraes attributed external pressures to a “militia organization.” “This militia organization is mistaken and those hidden and fugitive Brazilians outside the national territory to expect institutional weakness or democratic weakness,” he said after the sanction.
The dispute with Rumble began when the platform refused to comply with determinations to remove profiles accused of attacks on democracy, such as blogger Allan dos Santos. In February, Moraes even blocked access to the network in Brazil for not indicating legal representative in the country. More recently, the minister ordered the suspension of the profile of commentator Rodrigo Constantino, currently resident US citizen in the US.
In the United States, Rumble’s lawyer Martin de Luca has celebrated the inclusion of Moraes in the magnitsky law and stated that “no foreign judge has the authority to censor US speech or penalize US companies for complying with constitutional protections on American soil.” Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), who has been with the US since February, articulates new sanctions against members of the Brazilian judiciary involved in the proceedings against the former president.
*With information from Estadão Content
