Lula’s allies criticize Musk and call for regulation of social media

Businessman Elon Musk’s decision to bypass legal restrictions imposed on the social network X (formerly Twitter), released on Saturday night (6), led allies of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to criticize him and to call for urgency in regulating platforms in Brazil.

Earlier in the evening, Musk posted on an institutional X profile that he was “lifting all restrictions” and that “principles matter more than profits”. He further stated that “this judge imposed high fines, threatened to arrest our employees and block access to this week.

Musk, however, did not specifically mention Moraes’ decisions that would have restricted profiles on the social network.

Among critics of Musk’s decision to lift restrictions, PT national president Gleisi Hoffmann called the measure “pathetic” and stated that it “allows hate speech and the large-scale spread of fake news”.

“Pathetic is the smallest of adjectives to describe Elon Musk’s response to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, inflaming the far right by insinuating that there is censorship in Brazil, at the same time that his network allows hate speech and large-scale propagation of news false. As long as they try to weaken democracies, we will resist. And demand that no one be amnestied,” he posted on the X network itself.

The Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, stated that Musk “represents what is most backward from a civilizational point of view. He supports authoritarian regimes in the world and the most retrograde practices. Don’t criticize the STF or those who protect our democracy like Minister Alexandre de Moraes.”

Former secretary Ricardo Cappelli, who today presides over the Brazilian Industrial Development Agency, drew a parallel with the United States government’s decision on the social network TikTok.

“TikTok has been banned in the US. Either the Chinese sell it, or bye-bye. What did this far-right bully say? Where is his speech about censorship and freedom of expression in the USA? He thinks Brazil is a banana republic where he can attack the Supreme Court. All support for the STF”, he pointed out.

One of Lula’s most active ministers on social media, Paulo Pimenta, from the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom), avoided commenting on Musk’s decision, but reposted a post by the Attorney General of the Union (AGU), Jorge Messias . He stated that “it is urgent to regulate social networks”.

“We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities. Social Peace is non-negotiable”, he said.