Censorship of a minister’s son’s video is the target of confidential action in the TJ-RJ

The decision handed down by judge Flavia Babu Capanema Tancredo regarding the case involving the son of minister Benedito Gonçalves, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) — businessman Felipe Brandão — has author and defendant under “secrecy of justice”. The case led to the deletion of the video in which Brandão freely shows his branded clothes valued at more than R$ 1.2 million on the social networks.

According to the judge’s decision, “authorization for filming does not imply authorization for posting”. Therefore, the publication would be illicit, “since it is unauthorized”. Furthermore, the text states that the author is not a public figure, “which excludes the possibility of seeing a journalistic fact in the video, of public interest”, explains the judge, pointing out that, in her understanding, the objective would be to “ridicule the author and, through this, unjustifiably harm a third party”.

For jurist André Marsiglia, a specialist in freedom of expression, the case does not fit into the secrecy hypothesis. “It is not only public people who make authorization to publish an image unnecessary, but also people who are close to public people”, says the expert, citing that “children of artists and politicians are often in the news, have their image used and not there is an illegality in the disclosure.”

Furthermore, he informs that unknown people who voluntarily make themselves available for public events, such as giving interviews to the press or influencers, also make authorization of their image unnecessary. “The decision is not just censorship, it is contrary to all the most pacified jurisprudence we have on the use of images in Brazil”, he stated.

However, judge Flavia Tancredo ordered last Saturday (13) to exclude the video within 24 hours. The daily fine was R$5 thousand real. She also requested that the defendant “refrain from publishing images and videos of the author and his son on social media, with the possibility of a fine of R$ 1 thousand for an act of non-compliance.”

About the video

The post was made by a Dutch digital influencer who recorded the businessman showing off designer clothes and objects during a trip to Amsterdam. Among the accessories presented was a Richard Mille RM-011 watch that the Dutch influencer says costs around 200 thousand Euros (R$ 1 million). The use of designer brands is not illegal or irregular, but the images had negative repercussions and went viral on the internet.