The Meta group, which owns Facebook, said on Monday it removed content from its social networks supporting or praising events in Brazil, where supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and looted official buildings.
Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the Supreme Court, the congress building and the presidential palace in Brasilia on Sunday, breaking windows, damaging furniture, destroying works of art and stealing the original copy of the 1988 constitution.
“Before the election, we designated Brazil as a provisional high-risk location and removed content calling for people to take up arms or forcefully invade Congress, the presidential palace and other federal buildings,” a spokesperson for Goal.
The role of social networks in question
“We are actively monitoring the situation and will continue to remove content that violates our policies,” the spokesperson added. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office as Brazil’s president on January 1 after defeating Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of elections in October.
Supporters of the ousted president rejected this result, calling for demonstrations on social media and messaging platforms, including Twitter, Telegram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has asked the social networks Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to block the accounts of users who spread anti-democratic propaganda.
Representatives for TikTok, YouTube, Telegram and Elon Musk, which bought Twitter last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Messages seen by Reuters over the past week showed that members of these groups were organizing meetings in different cities of the country, from where chartered buses would leave for the occasion to Brasilia.
Social networks were criticized during the assault on the United States Capitol in January 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Source: BFM TV
