After Lulinha and Rosário, Aécio calls on the Federal Police online.
Just like Fábio Luis Lula da Silva, Lulinha, who requested a police investigation into criminal rumors circulating online, and Minister Maria do Rosário, who also contacted the Federal Police, now it's Senator Aécio Neves' (PSDB-MG) turn to do the same; he decided to request an investigation into two false accusations that have been disseminated online: one claiming he is the target of a lawsuit for the embezzlement of billions of dollars in healthcare funds, and another claiming he has accumulated billions in assets; the first was refuted by the Judiciary and the second by the website that first published the rumor; has internet freedom gone too far?
247 - Has internet freedom gone too far? After Minister Maria do Rosário called on the Federal Police against a blog that published fake news about her (read here) and businessman Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, Lula's son, request the opening of a police investigation against professional defamers on the internet (read here), it was Senator Aécio Neves' (PSDB-MG) turn to do the same.
Aécio Neves, the likely PSDB candidate for the 2014 presidential elections, intends to contact the Federal Police to identify those responsible for two accusations that have been spread against him. One is that he is a "new billionaire"—an accusation similar to that systematically made against Lula's son. Originally published online, the accusation was publicly denied, as follows:
"In the internet age, the speed at which information is handled can sometimes lead to errors in judgment, and when detected, these must be properly clarified. This requires a constant and careful verification of the facts, even when they reach us from sources that appeared to be reliable."
This is what happened in the case of the report by "Novo Jornal" - "Aécio Neves: the new billionaire" - about the assets of the governor of Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves. A more detailed check of the documents that supported the news revealed that there was an error on the part of the source who, inadvertently, attributed a series of investments to Aécio Neves, mainly in real estate, which, demonstrably, is not true.
Check below:
However, although it retracted the story, the newspaper did not remove the original news item, which continues to be indexed in search engines and disseminated on the internet and social media.
In a parallel action, Senator Aécio also intends to identify those responsible for another accusation: that he is being investigated in court for the embezzlement of more than R$ 4 billion in health funds. The senator points to manipulation in the content of a lawsuit filed by the State Public Prosecutor's Office, which questions whether R$ 4 billion invested by the Minas Gerais sanitation company, Copasa, were Treasury funds or company funds and, if so, whether they could be considered health expenditures.
Aécio obtained a certificate from the court attesting that the lawsuit does not concern "misappropriation of health resources" or "misappropriation of public funds."
In both cases, Aécio's lawyers intend to send an official letter requesting that the Federal Police take steps to identify those responsible for spreading the accusations.
Under the responsibility of the law firm Opice Blum, Bruno, Abrusio e Vainzof, the lawsuits allege that this is not about censorship or any restriction on freedom of expression, but only about protecting honor and privacy. In addition to media outlets, the objective is also to reach commentators who are spreading false accusations. This stance signals that, in the 2014 elections, the leading candidates will be more attentive to what is published about them on the internet.