The head of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Justice Edson Fachin, refuted accusations of censorship against digital platforms contained in a report by the US House Judiciary Committee released Thursday (Apr. 2).

Written by lawmakers who support President Donald Trump, the report states that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes committed acts of censorship against freedom of speech in the US by ordering the suspension of social media accounts belonging to Brazilians living in there who are accused of carrying out online attacks against Brazilian institutions.

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In an official statement, Justice Fachin said the report has “distorted characterizations” of the nature and scope of certain court decisions.

He also argued that the Brazilian legal system protects freedom of speech, but that this right is not absolute.

“It is understood that, in certain cases, freedom of speech may exceptionally be subject to specific limitations, particularly when these are necessary to preserve the effectiveness of another fundamental right. Similarly, one cannot invoke the right to freedom of speech to commit crimes defined by law,” he stated.

He also stressed that Justice Moraes’ orders to remove illegal content were issued as part of investigations into digital militias accused of committing crimes against democracy and attempting a coup d’état in Brazil.

“The legal framework established by the 1988 Federal Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, elevates freedom of speech to the status of a preferential right among fundamental rights. Other rights prevail over it only in exceptional cases, under the law, particularly in situations where freedom of expression is invoked to commit crimes defined by the law,” he added.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered on Wednesday (Apr. 1) the execution of arrest and search warrants against businessman Marcelo Conde, accused of financing an illegal scheme to access the financial data of Supreme Court justices, their relatives, and other officials.

The measures were ordered during the second phase of Operation Exfil, which investigates the sale of the data. Federal Police agents were unable to locate the businessman, who lives in Rio de Janeiro.

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According to the investigation, Conde is accused of financing a scheme to illegally obtain confidential tax data protected by law.

Federal Police investigators said Marcelo Conde allegedly provided lists of victims’ records from the Federal Revenue Service and made a cash payment of BRL 4,500 to obtain the data. The information was allegedly accessed illegally by Federal Revenue Service employees, outsourced staff, customs brokers, and intermediaries with access to the systems of the Federal Revenue Service and the Financial Activities Control Council (COAF).

In light of the evidence gathered by the police, Moraes also ordered the lifting of confidentiality on the defendant’s cell phone records and cloud-based data.

Confidentiality

Investigators also discovered that, in addition to Supreme Court justices and their relatives, the tax data of Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco, ministers of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), federal representatives, former senators, heads of federal regulatory agencies, and a former governor were improperly accessed.

In total, the scheme allegedly accessed data from 1,819 people.

In a statement, attorney Nélio Machado noted the businessman’s defense team had not yet had access to the judge’s ruling ordering the measures.

“We learned today of the measures ordered against our client, but we have not yet had access to the ruling. We immediately filed a request to access it and are now awaiting approval to take further action,” stated the defense.