In Brazil, senators want to deprive Jair Bolsonaro of social networks – archyde

Will Jair Bolsonaro find himself deprived of his favorite communication tool? On Tuesday, October 26, a group of senators officially demanded the suspension of accounts owned by the country’s controversial president on social networks. A first in the digital and political history of the young Brazilian republic.

Sent to justice, the request comes from the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (ICC) on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, which put to the vote and approved, on Tuesday, the thick report written on the subject, the result of six months of meticulous investigations. It comes mainly as a result of a new controversy, triggered by Jair Bolsonaro on October 21.

That day, in his usual weekly live broadcast, broadcast every Thursday evening on social networks, the president is the mouthpiece of a crass “fake news”, suggesting that people vaccinated against Covid-19 would develop the virus AIDS “Much faster than expected”. Without citing its exact source, the latter claims to be based on supposed official data from the British authorities. ” I want to transmit information “, he assures.

Not the first slip

The outcry is general. The head of state is immediately denied by the British government and members of the medical community. The video was quickly removed from the Instagram and Facebook platforms. YouTube goes even further, suspending Monday, and for a week, the activities of the video channel of Mr. Bolsonaro.

The sulphurous president is not at his first slip. Since April, according to a count made by the newspaper O Globo, YouTube would have removed at least 33 videos posted by it. In the event of new serious infringements, Jair Bolsonaro could even see his video channel (followed by 3.5 million Internet users) definitively closed.

The incident naturally sparked the fury of the ICC. In addition to the suspension of the president on social networks, it requires a public retraction “ on a national channel ”, under penalty of a fine of 50,000 reais (7,700 euros) per day and demands the sending to Brazilian justice by Google, Facebook and Twitter of all the data, content and access information of the accounts of the head of the state since April 2020.

“A repeat offender”

For senators, it is a question of ensuring the “Protection of the Brazilian population”. ” We have a repeat offender in the presidency of the republic! “, indignant, on social networks, the left-wing senator Randolfe Rodrigues, vice-president of the parliamentary committee, denouncing an exit ” false and absurd by Bolsonaro “.

You have 26.02% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.