In a defeat for Bolsonaro, the Supreme Court upholds the fake news investigation.

By André Richter, Agência Brasil - The Supreme Federal Court (STF) today (17) formed a majority of eight votes in favor of the legality of the inquiry opened by the court itself to investigate the dissemination of fake news and threats against members of the Court. So far, no minister has spoken out against the investigation. 

With this decision, the search and seizure measures and breaches of confidentiality carried out against businessmen accused of financing, defaming, and threatening ministers through social media are also validated. 

After the majority of votes were formed, the trial was suspended and will resume tomorrow (18) for the taking of the last votes, which will be cast by ministers Marco Aurélio, Celso de Mello and Dias Toffoli. 

Since last week, the Supreme Court has been judging a lawsuit filed last year by the Rede Sustentabilidade party to challenge the way the investigation was opened, which was not initiated by the Public Prosecutor's Office or the police. 

The investigation was opened in March 2019. At the time, the president of the Supreme Court, Minister Dias Toffoli, defended the measure as a way to combat the dissemination of fake news that affects the honor and security of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), its members, and their relatives. According to the president, who appointed Minister Alexandre de Moraes as the rapporteur for the case, the decision to open the investigation is supported by the Court's internal regulations.

Votes 

So far, eight justices have followed the vote of the rapporteur, Edson Fachin, delivered last week. According to Fachin's understanding, there was negligence on the part of the oversight bodies, which failed to take the initiative to investigate attacks against the independence of the Judiciary on social media. Therefore, according to the justice, the internal regulations can be applied as an instrument of institutional defense. 

Fachin also established parameters for the continuation of the investigation. According to the established rules, the investigation must be monitored by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the lawyers of those under investigation must have access to the case file, and the object of the investigation must be threats against the ministers, their families, the constituted powers, the rule of law, and democracy. 

The rapporteur also stipulated that journalistic material and personal expressions on social media cannot be the subject of the investigation, provided they are not part of "schemes for financing and mass dissemination on social media."

Fachin was accompanied by ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Luís Roberto Barroso, Rosa Weber, Luiz Fux, Cármen Lúcia, Ricardo Lewandowski, and Gilmar Mendes. 

Alexandre de Moraes

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who is the rapporteur for the inquiry into the fake newsHe also voted in favor of the legality of the investigation. According to the minister, threats against ministers on social media cannot be considered freedom of expression.

Among the identified cases of threats, Moraes cited a message posted on social media by a lawyer from Rio Grande do Sul, which read: "May the daughters of those despicable Supreme Court justices be raped and murdered."In another message he read, the same person asks, "How much does it cost to shoot point-blank in the back of each son of a bitch Supreme Court minister who wants to end imprisonment after a second instance conviction?"

PGR and AGU 

On Wednesday (10), the first day of the trial, the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, defended the continuation of the investigation, but with guidelines to guarantee the participation of the Public Ministry.

Brazil's Attorney General, José Levi do Amaral, also defended the continuation of the investigation, provided that the non-criminalization of freedom of expression is guaranteed. 

According to Levi, freedom of expression and of the press should be absolute in traditional media and social networks, regardless of whether the authors of the messages are professional journalists or not.