On Sunday the 11th, TSE president Kassio Nunes Marques granted a request from Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign and ordered WhatsApp to suspend the “Exército do Lula” channel, created by deputy André Janones and with more than 3 million followers, according to Folha. The deadline was three hours after notification. Janones called the order censorship. In the early afternoon, the Electoral Inspector General, Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, suspended the order and put the channel back online; his decision is preliminary, and the full bench will have the final word, according to G1. Lula said he finds it “absurd” and is “distrustful of the behavior of the electoral Court.” TSE vice president André Mendonça barred the PT from paying to boost videos that say Flávio is against the 6x1 schedule.
Channels and profiles on social networks are the main stage of the runoff campaign, and TSE decisions on what stays online can weigh on the final two weeks. The reversal within a few hours shows the court is divided over how far it should intervene.
If you receive campaign content on WhatsApp, know that channels and profiles can be suspended and restored by court decision. Check the origin before forwarding.
Those who defend the suspension say the Electoral Justice must curb irregular advertising on social networks and that Flávio’s campaign has the right to ask for the measure.
Critics speak of censorship of a channel supporting a candidate and recall that individual decisions by the TSE president were overturned by the full bench in August, according to Jornal do Brasil and Diário de Pernambuco.
What matters now is the date and the vote count of the full bench. If the court confirms the inspector general’s decision, Nunes Marques’s order loses force; if it reverses it, the channel goes offline two weeks before the vote. It is worth separating the legal fight from the channel’s content, which no one here has verified.
Folha · Valor · Agência Brasil · G1 · Estadão · Jornal do Brasil · Diário de Pernambuco (Oct. 11) · decisions as reported by the press
TSE president orders the “Exército do Lula” channel taken down on WhatsApp, and the inspector general reverses the order hours later
Sunday’s decision, on the 11th, met a request from the campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula says he is “distrustful” of the Court, the full bench has yet to decide, and Mendonça blocked another PT boost.
Folha, Valor and Agência Brasil report that on Sunday the 11th the president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, ordered WhatsApp to suspend the “Exército do Lula” (“Lula’s Army”) channel. The order came in the morning, at the request of Flávio Bolsonaro’s (PL) campaign, according to G1 and Estadão, and gave the app three hours to comply, according to Folha. The channel was created by federal deputy André Janones (Rede-MG) to spread messages in favor of Lula’s reelection and has more than 3 million followers, according to Folha. Janones called the decision censorship, Agência Brasil reports. In the early afternoon, the Electoral Inspector General, Justice Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, suspended Nunes Marques’s order and put the channel back online, G1, Folha and Estadão report. O Globo describes the president’s order as a decision that overrode the inspector general, and the BBC summed up the episode as a back-and-forth of Electoral Justice decisions. A WhatsApp channel sends messages to many followers at once, without letting them reply as a group. The inspector general’s decision is preliminary, and the final word will rest with the TSE’s full bench, according to G1. A single-justice ruling, made by one justice alone, can be reviewed by the collegiate body: in August, the full bench already overturned individual decisions by Nunes Marques and André Mendonça in cases involving Lula, according to Jornal do Brasil and Diário de Pernambuco.
Lula reacted the same day. In an interview, when asked, he said “I think it’s absurd,” and the PT said it will ask the court for explanations, Valor reports. In another statement, the president said he was “distrustful of the behavior of the electoral Court,” which, in his view, has been blocking content from the PT campaign, according to G1. Also on Sunday, the TSE vice president, Justice André Mendonça, barred Lula’s campaign from paying to boost videos that say Flávio is against ending the 6x1 schedule, G1 and Agência Brasil report. Folha notes that Nunes Marques’s decisions against Lula and in favor of Flávio bother a wing of the court and draw criticism inside and outside the bench. On the other side, it was Flávio’s campaign that asked for the channel’s suspension, and the case now depends on the full bench. As of publication of this edition, the sources consulted gave no date for the judgment. Metrópoles followed live the contest on WhatsApp between Janones’s channel and that of deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG). The runoff is on October 25, and the legal fight over advertising, profiles and channels on social networks is likely to continue until then.