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Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has broadened restrictions on former president Jair Bolsonaro, now barring the distribution of his interviews across social media platforms.
The directive, issued Monday by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, now becoming a household name in the censorship hall of fame, prohibits the sharing of any video, audio, or transcript in which Bolsonaro is featured, regardless of who conducts or posts the interview.
Moraes argued that such content could be used to bypass the current social media ban imposed on the former president and warned that any attempt to do so could result in Bolsonaro’s immediate imprisonment.
“The precautionary measure prohibiting the use of social networks, directly or through third parties, imposed on Jair Messias Bolsonaro obviously includes the transmissions, retransmissions or broadcasting of audios, videos or transcripts of interviews on any of the third-party social media platforms, and the investigated cannot use these means to circumvent the measure, under penalty of immediate revocation and decree of imprisonment,” Moraes wrote.
These restrictions were first enacted last Friday following a request by the Office of the Prosecutor General, which claimed urgent measures were necessary to prevent a possible escape attempt.
Since the court’s order took effect, Bolsonaro has been forced to comply with a series of surveillance measures: he must wear an electronic ankle monitor, stay indoors during evenings and weekends, and is barred from communicating with other individuals under investigation, foreign diplomats, or his son Eduardo, who is currently in the United States.
Concerns over potential violations of these restrictions led Bolsonaro to cancel a planned live interview on Monday afternoon.
The broadcast, which was to air online, was reportedly scrapped out of fear it could be interpreted as a breach of the court’s conditions.
Despite the tightening legal noose, Bolsonaro has continued to make public remarks. After a visit to Brasília’s Penitentiary Administration Secretariat, he denounced the restrictions as a “supreme humiliation.”
Speaking in interviews with Reuters, he also criticized Moraes, calling him “the chief dictator” of Brazil.
By targeting not just Bolsonaro’s own posts but also any secondary publication of his voice or image, the court has moved aggressively to silence even mediated forms of political expression.
These actions, framed as legal enforcement, have deepened concern about the extent to which judicial power is being used to throttle dissent in Brazil.
