In August, a few weeks before the first round, the Superior Electoral Court will have a judge specializing in the crime of political confusion – the practice of spreading fake news to interfere in elections.
Alexander de Moraes, 53, of the Federal Supreme Court, has just completed three years of conducting a controversial Fake News investigation that began with a measure of press censorship – Crusoe Magazine – which was withdrawn a few days later.
The investigation continues, focusing on far-right activist groups, some of which are recognized for their ties to the Zaire Bolsonaro government.
One of the chapters consists of a map of political relations, drawn by the federal police. Standing there are Balsonaro’s three parliamentary sons and a dozen other federal deputies.
One of them, Daniel Silvera, was sentenced last week to eight years and nine months in prison for crimes against democracy and threatening judges and their families. Bolsonaro forgave him, but he is ineligible and will remain so, Moraes and other members of the STF and TSE understand.
On Friday, Maurice spoke to audiences in Sao Paulo and Rio about how the results of the investigation, which has not yet been completed, have affected preparations for this year’s general election.
“There are two important positions in the Superior Electoral Court, which will determine all the explanations for the 2022 election here,” he said.
He added: “The first is that for electoral purposes, platforms, social networks are considered as means of communication for the purpose of abuse of political and economic power. So, if they are not for other purposes, they have the same responsibility for electoral purposes, as a result they will have the same responsibility. “
“The second point,” he continued, “is that candidates who use provocative, negative speech, hate speech, fraudulent news against their opponents, will be proven to interfere in the election, their registration will be canceled and they will not graduate.”
Six months ago, when the Electoral Court acquitted Zaire Bolsonaro-Hamilton Morao for spreading false news in the 2018 campaign, Moraes announced the deal with strange force: “If what was done in 2018 is repeated. [difusão em massa de notícias falsas] Registrar [da chapa eleitoral] They will be prosecuted and those who do will go to jail for attacking Brazil’s institutions and democracy. “
Yesterday, in Sao Paulo, he recalled the case of Fernando Francischini, a state deputy from Paran, whose order was revoked at the same time in October last year. “And that’s exactly what happened, because on election day he recorded a video and posted ‘election fraud.’ He had more than 300,000 followers and this increased his candidacy. His mandate was revoked because it was not possible to survive with these habits. We cannot tolerate hate speech, attacks on democracy, degradation of democracy.
According to Morris, the STF and the TSE agree on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of duty: “If you have the courage to use freedom of expression as a protective shield against the practice of illegal activity, not as a fundamental right. ; If you have the courage to do that, you must have the courage to admit criminal and civil liability. Do what you want, but enjoy the fruits. “
He gave the example: “Institutional law number five, AI-5, cannot protect the return, which guarantees the torture of people in the judiciary, the death of people, the closure of Congress. Well, we’re not in the woods. Freedom of expression is not freedom of aggression. It is not possible to live together, we cannot tolerate hate speech, attack on democracy, degradation of democracy.
A three-year investigation, he said, found an organized political-financial campaign. He describes four interconnected “structures.” “There is a production of confusion and propaganda. If you make news, videos with false information and then you give it a robot. For what Get that top 10 [das redes sociais]. From the moment it reaches the top 10, it “legitimizes” the third structural source of distorted information, which is the political source. The political nucleus cannot immediately start spreading misinformation because it loses credibility. So, there’s the production nucleus, the dissonance nucleus — the robots that run wild — and when it reaches the top 10, it’s already news shared by society, then political parties enter, propagate, legitimize, because it’s already Twitter, Instagram. , At the top of the news from Facebook. ”
“All this financing,” he continued, “is the economic core, the core of financing. However, there are four structural cores for confusion. And with two purposes. As always, seizing power is combined with the second purpose, which is to make money. It makes people richer, really richer. “
“It was repeated, and from these investigations it was possible to verify the modus operandi. At a certain point in time, they let go of the robots – which are now back – and hired people like a call center to spread the word, because political agents have to spread the word.” And then, they also spread that fake news to the traditional media in the form of MPs’ statements about it. It happened in the 2018 election – the truth is that no one expected it, no one was ready. And that is the big challenge for the 2022 election.
Morris is convinced that there are no innocent people on the fake news machine, except the receiving public. “Confusion is not stupid. It’s criminal, and it has a purpose. For some, it’s just prosperity. For others it is an uncontrolled seizure of power. There is so much misinformation that sometimes, even the traditional presses repeat fake news because they do not have time to check. Today (Friday) a news came out that the Supreme Court wants to investigate the fake news. This is fake news. It will not investigate any fake news. “
Initially, he suspected, the police would make progress in mapping economic web: “We are really reaching out to all the financiers. “People don’t realize that there is a public moment and a secret moment in the investigation, which is often the case when you go to sew illegal activity and the federal police are investigating.”
The investigation, the successful confrontation opened by Bolsonaro, and repeated public messages from judges like Torres, the future president of the TSE, indicate an election season of strong emotions.