At the beginning of this month, the Federal Internal Affairs Department (MPF) published a new regulation with guidelines on how prosecutors should express themselves publicly and on social media, with a view to the prohibition of political career activity.
Among the new features in relation to the 2022 standard is the provision of rules for e groups, as well as the mention of even more indirect interactions on networks such as likes, emojis and shares. It also recommends not participating in election campaign events.
There is already a constitutional prohibition prohibiting prosecutors from carrying out party political activity. In the new rules, there is greater detail on specific situations.
Among the standards cited in the justification are the ten guidelines for conduct – which were headed by Minister Cármen Lúcia. The document adds that they are applicable to members of the Federal Public Ministry.
Among the Internal Affairs Department’s recommendations is that prosecutors should avoid participating in public events “that may be of the nature of an electoral campaign or personal promotion of candidates, pre-candidates or parties.”
In addition to saying that members of the MPF must act with self-restraint in their public demonstrations and not issue opinions that constitute, even indirectly, “support or opposition to candidacies, parties or political projects associated with them”.
The criteria for what is considered a public demonstration is defined as those that can reach an indeterminate number of people, whether in person or virtually. This includes, according to the document, messaging groups (which would cover applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram) that are not made up exclusively of family or close friends.
Both in the environment of these broader groups and on social networks, the Internal Affairs recommendation cites a series of conducts that must be observed by prosecutors.
The first of these is to refrain from “disclosing personal political choices.” It also says that even interactions such as likes, shares and emojis made in political-partisan content can constitute prohibited activity.
When touching on the topic of electronic voting machines, it is stated that prosecutors must refrain from making “unsubstantiated criticisms that cast doubt on the integrity of the electronic voting system”, as well as from creating or sharing deepfakes against the electoral process or its participants
It also provides, more broadly, that prosecutors must avoid both the publication and sharing of texts, images, audios and videos that may characterize party political activity, contain disinformation or disseminate false news.
