There is a massive uprising happening in the nation of Brazil. Elon Musk has found himself in the middle of it. We are going to see what’s happening in the raging battle between X and the Brazilian supreme court, and what it all means for the future of free speech both here at home and abroad.
There was a huge anti-government protest in Brazil a few weeks ago. This hardly got any coverage, but it went viral on 𝕏.
This is why 𝕏 is Lula's Public Enemy #1. pic.twitter.com/5f8hLH0nZ9
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 7, 2024
– Investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger released the “Twitter Files Brazil,” revealing a crackdown on free speech led by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
– Elon Musk responded by lifting all restrictions in Brazil, leading to potential revenue loss and office closure, citing principles over profit.
– Lula da Silva, the leftist former president of Brazil, appointed seven of the eleven Supreme Court justices, including Moraes, leading to concerns about corruption and political influence.
On April 3rd, investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger released the “Twitter Files Brazil” that revealed records released by X that showed that, “Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a supreme court justice.” A number of members of the Brazilian congress as well as fellow journalists were cited in the bombshell report as having been targets of censorship. Most of them are supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
The Files went on to document how this single judge, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who bizarrely looks like an evil villain straight out of the Marvel or DC comic universe, has been jailing individuals without trial just for things they posted on social media. According to the Twitter Files, he demanded personal details about Twitter users who used hashtags he did not like, he “demanded access to Twitter’s internal data, in violation of Twitter policy,” and “he sought to censor, unilaterally, Twitter posts by sitting members of Brazil’s Congress.”
Until X complied, they would be fined $30,000 a day. Elon was hardly intimidated. He tweeted out in response, ‘We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to 𝕏 in Brazil. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit.’
Musk then followed up that tweet saying, “Coming shortly, 𝕏 will publish everything demanded by @Alexandre and how those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached. Shame @Alexandre, shame.”
Now the latest is that this Supreme Court justice, Alexandre Moraes, has ordered a criminal investigation into Elon Musk. Rather than investigating a crime in search of a perpetrator, this judge is investigating a man in search of crime. This isn’t the first time Elon has stared down attempts by governments to censor content on X. Just a few months back, the EU launched their first-ever investigation based on its new draconian and authoritarian social media rules. The European Commission announced that it has opened infringement proceedings into X, accusing the platform for not doing enough to stop supposed disinformation and hate speech from spreading online.
What this is ultimately about is the fact that Brazilian and EU bureaucrats can’t control Elon or X like they can other platforms, and that is why he’s such a target. When it comes to Brazil in particular, we’re dealing with a whole new level of statewide corruption! The current leftist president there, Lula da Silva, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazil’s history. He was barred from ever being able to run for the presidency again.
This raises the question of how Lula is president right now. This is where the corruption within Brazilian politics begins to break out for all to see. In Brazil, it’s not the president that’s been invested with supreme power, the president actually is limited in power and influence in Brazilian politics. The real power resides in Brazil’s Supreme Court. The court itself is composed of 11 justices, and of those 11, 7 were appointed by Lula.
Lula and some of his ideologically leftist ilk, such as Dilma Rousseff, who took over after Lula. 7 of the 11 judges have been appointed by Lula or by a Lula surrogate. Without any explanation, one of the Supreme Court justices overturned Lula’s conviction simply stating that it lacked necessary justification. The formal decision claimed that the trials weren’t held in the proper trial venue. Moreover, this judge didn’t just overturn the conviction, he nullified it.
This freed Lula from jail and allowed him to once again run for president. He won by one percentage point. Obviously Bolsonaro supporters have felt slighted by a corrupt judicial system ever since! Censorship demands and criminal investigations into Elon Musk are just par for the course for this corrupt system.
As Jordan Peterson reminds us, freedom of speech is inextricably linked to freedom of thought. There is essentially no difference between speech and thought, because so much of our thought is organized verbally! We ask ourselves questions all the time, and we do so to actually get answers from our own consciences. They are trying to stifle our free thought. Countering the woke mind virus involves making room for free thought, which itself involves shutting down their attempts at undermining free speech. That is exactly what Elon Musk is doing here. He is effectively resisting any attempts at undermining free speech, and is providing an ark for freedom lovers all over the world. It’s precisely that work that promises to sustain liberty in the years ahead!
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