After Musk denounces censorship, Sleeping Giants wants to demonetize Twitter

Known for intimidating companies on the internet to cancel and demonetize advertisements in media outlets that do not share the group’s ideological values, Sleeping Giants Brasil (SGB) began a campaign to demonetize X (formerly Twitter) in retaliation for complaints from Billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X, about the pressure faced by the social network to censor profiles that are not aligned with the left.

Despite claiming to be non-partisan, Sleeping Giants Brasil gained notoriety for attacking media outlets that are not left-aligned.

“Attention! This is not a test! We will begin the most important campaign since the creation of this movement and we will need all of you more than ever! Twitter was a space where we shared our achievements, desires, opinions and dreams, but unfortunately X became our nightmare. An amusement park owned by an eccentric billionaire who mocks our sovereignty while defying justice. But that ends today, the time has come for us Brazilians to turn the tide, defend our country and demonetize the attacks on Brazil that make Elon Musk rich. It’s time to #DemonetizeTwitter!” wrote the SGB on its profile on the social network X, this Monday (8).

The SGB account on X bears the “blue seal” provided to profiles that pay between R$880 and R$1,000 for the premium version of the social network. Followed by more than 570 thousand users on X, SBG still uses the social network to promote its platform for collecting donations.

The group is also known for receiving millionaire contributions from foundations that finance NGOs and left-wing agendas in several countries.

The SGB’s reaction echoes the position of the Lula government in relation to the scandal that is being called “Twitter Files Brazil”, which brought documents with revelations of how the platform reacted to requests for censorship made, mainly, by the minister of the Supreme Court Federal (STF), Alexandre de Moraes, in 2022.

The documents were revealed by author and journalist Michael Shellenberger, in collaboration with People’s Gazette.

This weekend, Musk decided to go over all the restrictions imposed by the Brazilian courts against certain profiles on the platform, accused Moraes of censorship and promised to reactivate the profiles as he considered the measures imposed to be arbitrary and illegal.

In response, on Sunday (7), Moraes ordered the opening of an investigation against Musk. In the order, the minister requested the inclusion of the businessman as being investigated in another existing investigation, the controversial investigation into digital militias.