RIO DE JANEIRO — Even as Jair Bolsonaro begins to give up power, his staunchest supporters refuse to accept defeat in Brazil’s presidential election, crying foul on the Internet and in the streets.
For nearly two weeks they’ve protested President-elect Luiz Inacio da Silva’s Oct. 30 victory, rallying around unproven claims of fraud. And the most social-media savvy are blasting conspiracies about vote rigging to millions of followers.
Electoral authorities are hitting back. Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice and Brazil’s elections chief, has ordered the suspension of online accounts belonging to some of Bolsonaro’s most prominent allies in a renewed crackdown on misinformation and alleged attacks on democratic institutions.
“Those who by criminal means won’t accept, those who by criminal means have been taking part in anti-democratic acts, will be treated like criminals,” Moraes said about the results last week.
The suspension of popular online profiles and removal of hundreds of social media posts have drawn allegations of censorship, from rank and file Bolsonaro backers to well-known conservative commentators such as Tucker Carlson. It also caused concern among some law and Internet experts about possible infringement of freedom of expression.
Election authorities are “dealing with a problem, disinformation, whose roots and effects go way beyond its competences,” said Clara Iglesias Keller, a researcher at the WZB Berlin Social Sciences Center who studies information technology regulation.
Democracies across the Americas to the Middle East have grappled with election deniers in recent years. But in Brazil, authorities have become especially active in moderating these types of accusations after Bolsonaro, 67, who models himself after Donald Trump, spent much of his time in office casting doubt on the country’s electronic voting system.
Such claims of fraud led, in part, truckers and protesters to block over 1,000 roadways across the country following Lula’s victory. The roads are now clear, but demonstrations simmer with the most extreme calling for the armed forces to overturn the results.
Brazil’s military dictatorship ended 37 years ago and calling for an intervention is prohibited by law. The high command of the armed forces on Friday said in a statement it condemned “excesses” by protesters as well as “restrictions on rights by public officials.”
Among those kicked off social media is one of Brazil’s most popular podcasters, Bruno Aiub, who goes by Monark and whose Youtube channel with nearly 4 million subscribers was deactivated on Tuesday. Nikolas Ferreira, a 26-year-old influencer and congressman-elect with over 2 million followers on Twitter, was suspended from the platform last week. Both were removed after sharing a debunked video suggesting proof of vote rigging.
Lawmaker Carla Zambelli, who had over 9.5 million followers, was suspended from 10 platforms last week after cheering on protesters clogging highways.
Brazil’s electoral authority declined to comment on how many accounts and profiles it ordered to be removed since the election ended.
Moraes, who heads a wide-reaching investigation into fake news, has become the main curb on Bolsonaro’s power. He has also by been accused of overreach.
Ahead of the vote, election authorities and Brazil’s Supreme Court granted themselves sweeping powers, including a recent decision to allow Moraes to unilaterally mandate the removal of specific content, enforced by hourly fines and potential suspension of tech companies that are slow to comply.
Carlos Affonso Souza, a law professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, said there’s reason to question whether or not suspension of accounts is the best response to spreading falsehoods about elections. Still, he added that many affected were openly calling or supporting a military intervention.
In Brazil, “we are very far from away an absolutist view on free speech,” he said.
