Locals will leave Brazil after pressure from the STF to delete profiles

The social network Locals announced its departure from Brazil after pressure from the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to delete Brazilian profiles. The statement was made by the company this Monday (29). With the decision, Locals joined Rumble, another social network that decided to leave the country for the same reason, at the end of last year.

“Locals, as part of Rumble, shares the mission of restoring a free and open internet,” Locals said in the statement.

The social network houses profiles of Brazilians censored by Judiciary decisions, such as judge Ludmila Lins Grilo, journalist Paulo Figueiredo and economist and writer, Rodrigo Constantino.

The Locals service in Brazil should operate until February 12, 2024.

In December 2023, Rumble, a YouTube competitor, announced its departure from Brazil in protest against the wave of censorship that has been imposed on its users through court orders and pressure from the Lula government.

Two days before the announcement, the platform partially took the Terça Livre channel off the air in compliance with an order from the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes. The Terça Livre channel is maintained by exiled journalist Allan dos Santos.

In the announcement, Rumble president Chris Pavlovski does not mention Moraes’ order or refer to a specific user.

Even though social networks have become unavailable in Brazil, services can still be accessed through a Virtual Private Network or VPN (acronym in English for Virtual Private Network).