Felipe Neto is ordered to compensate Lira for moral damages
The Brasília court ordered digital influencer Felipe Neto to pay R$20,000 to the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), for moral damages. The deputy took action after the YouTuber called him “excrementíssimo”, a pun on the word “excelentíssimo”, during a hearing on the regulation of social networks in the House in April.
The decision was signed by judge Cleber de Andrade Pinto, from the 16th Civil Court of Brasília, this Monday (30). Neto can still appeal to the Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).
In May, Lira asked the court that the influencer be ordered to pay R$200,000 in compensation. Initially, the president of the Chamber had filed a criminal complaint for an alleged crime of insult, but the case was archived.
Now, judge Cleber de Andrade Pinto understood that “an abuse of the right to free expression of thought was constituted, with the defendant’s intention to harm the person of the author, causing him moral damage.”
The judge also pointed out that, after the hearing in the Chamber, Felipe Neto made fun of the situation in a post on social media. For him, the influencer “did not criticize the parliamentarian’s political performance, but offended him personally”. However, he considered that the compensation request of R$200,000 was “exaggerated”.
Felipe Neto’s defense reinforced in the process that the statement was a criticism, which is supported by the right to freedom of expression. “With due respect, a man who launched himself into public life from a very young age, with enormous expertise and experience, president of the Chamber of Deputies, to feel attacked, insulted, to call the Legislative Police for being called ‘excremental’ is simply unbelievable”, said the YouTuber’s defense.
Felipe Neto called Lira “excremental” in a hearing in the Chamber
On April 23 of this year, Neto defended the approval of bill 2,630/2020, known as PL das Fake News, when participating in a debate on the regulation of social networks promoted by the Chamber. He stated that the proposal is not related to “censorship” and that this “narrative” was created by the extreme right as a way to block the vote.
“We need to get the people on our side. They continue to believe in censorship. We need to talk more, as the Internet Civil Rights Framework brilliantly did. And it is possible for us to change the perception of a bill 2630, which, unfortunately, was crushed by the ‘excellent’ Arthur Lira”, said the influencer in an allusion to the pronoun “excellent”.
