Justice says Sleeping Giants campaign against Jovem Pan is illegal

This Monday (30), the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP) reversed a first instance decision that had stopped a lawsuit filed by Jovem Pan against Sleeping Giants Brasil (SGBR) and determined, unanimously, that the demonetization campaign undertaken by SGBR against the broadcaster be suspended immediately.

SGBR is a left-wing political activism group known for intimidating companies on the internet to cancel and demonetize advertisements in media outlets that do not share the group’s ideological values.

“You try to silence a media outlet because they don’t think like you. The campaigns (from SGBR) are very targeted. Today it was Jovem Pan, tomorrow it could be any press organization that does not have the same thoughts or the same ideology that Sleeping Giants preaches. So, what Sleeping Giants tries to practice has only one name: censorship”, said the broadcaster’s defense lawyer, José Frederico Manssur, to Jornal da Manhã, on Jovem Pan.

Wanted by People’s Gazettethe lawyer explained that the process will follow the normal procedure in the first instance and that Sleeping Giants will still be able to appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) against this Monday’s decision (30).

“In practical terms, this means that while this decision of the Court of Justice is in force, even if on a preliminary basis, Sleeping Giants, if it continues with the demonetization campaign, will be punished with a fine, in addition to being a failure to comply with a court order ”, Massur told Gazeta, this Tuesday (31).

The demonetization campaign launched by SGBR caused more than 60 companies to cancel their contracts with the broadcaster.

The TJ-SP’s decision was made within the scope of a civil action filed by the broadcaster. The action had been halted in the first instance after the judge in the case decided to await the result of another criminal investigation opened by the company against SGBR for the crime of defamation.

According to the judge, the process could either be suspended for a year or could be resumed at any time if the police investigation was closed before that period.

Currently, the criminal investigation is archived by order of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes.

In the decision in which he decided to close the investigation, Moraes contradicted the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and claimed “absence of just reason” to continue the investigation.

After the decision of the first instance, Jovem Pan’s defense filed an appeal with the TJ-SP, where there was already another petition requesting the suspension of the “slanderous campaign” by Sleeping Giants Brasil, which has been accusing the broadcaster of “profiting from attacks on democracy”.

In addition to suspending the campaign, Jovem Pan had also requested the deletion of content already shared by SGBR on social media, but this demand was not met.