🇺🇸🇺🇸⚠️🌐 — 🇧🇷 U.S. Representative Chris Smith, of the Republican Party and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights of the United States Congress, sent a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to request information about allegations of censorship in Brazil.

➡️ According to a statement released by the lawmaker, in the message sent to the President of the IACHR, Roberta Clarke, and to the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Pedro José Vaca Villarreal, Smith mentioned "credible allegations of mass violations of freedom of expression, including censorship imposed through abuses of judicial authority and the silencing of opposition media."

"Considering the responsibilities of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and particularly of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, to promote respect for human rights and freedom of expression, including monitoring and collecting reports and relevant information on events in Brazil, I respectfully request that you share any information you have about these human rights violations."

❗️ Smith will chair a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives today, on the topic "Brazil: a crisis of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law?", organized by the Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

🎙 The hearing will feature Christopher Pavlovski, founder and CEO of the Rumble platform, journalists Michael Shellenberger and Paulo Figueiredo, and Fábio de Sá e Silva, a professor of Brazilian studies at the University of Oklahoma.

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🇺🇸🇺🇸⚠️🌐 — 🇧🇷 The United States House of Representatives has sent a request to the Organization of American States (OAS) for information regarding allegations of "censorship," "abuse of authority," and "mass violations of freedom of expression" in Brazil.

⚖️⚖️ The document, signed by the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Congressman Cris Smith, refers to decisions by Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) to block profiles on social media and communication channels on the web maintained by individuals accused of involvement in the events of January 8 and others preceding the acts of destruction.

"In view of the mandate of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and particularly that of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, to promote respect for human rights and freedom of expression, including monitoring and collecting relevant reports and information on developments in Brazil, I respectfully request that you share any information you have on these violations of human rights."

❗️ Smith also questioned the OAS committee about the "steps and measures" being taken by the organization regarding the situation in Brazil and how the U.S. Congress could act on the issue.

🇺🇸🇺🇸⚠️⚖️⚖️ — 🇧🇷 The American congressman Chris Smith, of the Republican Party, states that "Brazilians have been subjected to serious human rights violations" by the Supreme Federal Court (STF):

"Since late 2022, Brazilians have been subject to grave human rights violations committed by Brazilian officials on a vast scale. Documented right violations in Brazil include the political abuse of legal procedures to persecute political opposition, including jailing opposition figures on spurious charges. Violations of freedom of speech and media freedom, including persecution of journalists, the silencing of opposition media, banning individuals from social media, thinly veiled censorship laws claiming to fight disinformation, and many violations of rule of law.

The government of Brazil has pursued Brazilian journalists and political opponents in the United States of America as well. It has used Interpol, red notices, social intimidation, and according to one credible victim of transnational
repression, has sought to use the FBI as a carrier or conduit to its intimidation.

This has been carried out with assistance from the Electoral Tribunal's special advisory to combat disinformation. It acts as a ministry of truth, so-called. [...] In late January of 2023, the New York Times reported, referring to Moraes, quote, this is from the New York Times, using a broad interpretation of the court's powers, he has pushed to investigate and prosecute, as well as to silence on social media, anyone he deems a menace to Brazil's institutions.

He has jailed people without trial for posting threats on social media, helped sentence a sitting congressman to nearly nine years in prison, for threatening the court, ordered raids on businessmen with little evidence of wrongdoing, suspended an elected governor from his job, and unilaterally blocked dozens of accounts and thousands of posts on social media with virtually no transparency or room for appeal."

Metrópoles (@Metropoles) 🖇

🇺🇸💬❌❌🇧🇷 — Michael Shellenberger alleges interference by Alexandre de Moraes in the 2022 Brazilian elections during his testimony to the American Congress and describes in detail what he calls "the worst censorship he has seen in any Western democracy"

➡️ The journalist lists the events that led to Elon Musk's and the 𝕏 platform's refusal to cooperate with a massive volume of illegal censorship takedown orders, which included demanding that the platform take responsibility for the censorship;

➡️ In response to Elon Musk's criticism and the platform's refusal to censor and Shellenberger's reporting on the Brazil Twitter/𝕏 Files, Alexandre de Moraes opened criminal investigations into all of them and threatened 𝕏 Brazil's employees which led to the company's leading attorney there to resign his position;

➡️ Shellenberger goes on to highlight that de Moraes not only has ordered the takedown of political dissident accounts in Brazil but also by blocking those individuals from being heard in 𝕏 Spaces

➡️ "de Moraes is obsessed with silencing his enemies. It's not enough for X to block those accounts in Brazil. De Moraes also does not want those individual to use their voices."