Moraes closes inquiry investigating Sleeping Giants financiers

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), again contradicted a statement by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and decided to close an investigation by the Civil Police of São Paulo that investigated the political activism group Sleeping Giants Brasil for alleged practice of the crime of defamation against the broadcaster Jovem Pan. The decision is from the beginning of June.

The ongoing investigation was launched on January 3 at the request of Jovem Pan by delegate André Junji Ikari, from the Cyber ​​Crimes Division. The focus of the investigation was to discover those responsible for Sleeping Giants Brasil, as well as its main financiers, and to analyze possible punishment for an ongoing smear campaign against the broadcaster.

O modus operandi of the group of left-wing activists is to constrain advertisers to withdraw advertising from vehicles that give space to right-wing voices – the People’s Gazette was targeted by the group in 2020. They operate mainly on Twitter and are inspired by an American eponymous movement. In December last year, the group redoubled its efforts to try to financially suffocate the communication company through a campaign called “Demonetiza Jovem Pan”.

Activists began demanding that companies such as Tim, Huawei, C6, Lacta, Natura, Ponto Frio, Burger King, Yamaha, among others, stop advertising on the station, accusing the vehicle of spreading “coup-mongering” and “anti-democratic” content. “fake news” and “hate speech”.

The persecution for political purposes generated a strong reaction from national radio and television associations, which repudiated the actions, which include the use of fake news to harm the targets.

PGR and Public Ministry of São Paulo supported investigation

The strategy of the defense of Sleeping Giants when resorting to Alexandre de Moraes was to reverse the roles of the case, so that Jovem Pan would leave the condition of victim and start to appear among the numerous targets of the minister who would promote “attacks on democracy”.

Before issuing his decision, the minister consulted the PGR, which was in favor of continuing the investigation and filing the request made by Sleeping Giants Brasil. However, as has been the case, the minister decided to ignore the arguments of the PGR and close the entire investigation of the case. Despite this, in addition to the PGR, the delegate responsible for the investigation, the Public Ministry and the Justice of São Paulo had seen enough elements to proceed with the investigations.

On January 20, delegate Ikari asked the judge in the case to break the bank secrecy of Sleeping Giants Brasil, as well as its partners Leonardo Leal, Mayara Stelle and Humberto Ribeiro. In the document, he stated that “although the aforementioned journalists [da Jovem Pan] shouted said speeches, it is not lawful for the represented [Sleeping Giants], in the opinion of this subscriber, to organize a smear campaign with the aim of coercing companies not to advertise in the company/victim”. The delegate also asked for the suspension of the group’s profiles on social networks.

When asked to comment, the Public Prosecution Service agreed to both requests. “The evidence attached to the file shows that through Sleeping Giants Brasil, posts are made available on social networks attributing hate speech to the victim company. What’s more, these posts do not only show the exercise of the right of opinion, but a deliberate initiative to defame Rádio Jovem Pan and cause property losses to the company,” said the agency.

“There is a possibility that Sleeping Giants Brasil will not act alone but be linked to other interests, especially in the journalistic field, to publicize its publications. There are reasons, therefore, to suspect that Sleeping Giants Brasil receives funds from third parties to mobilize the smear campaign, which justifies the request for research with Sisbajud to enable a future breach of bank secrecy”, said the MP, in demonstration signed by promoter Miriam Fuga Borges.

When analyzing the requests, judge Celina Maria Macedo Stern noted that the activism group “would be using lies and appealing posts to convince the audience and sponsors, serving certain political interests”. She said, however, that the breach of bank secrecy would be a “premature” measure at the stage of investigations.

The magistrate denied the request to suspend the profiles of the activism group, as all the content posted would be off the air, not just those offensive to Jovem Pan. However, she suggested further steps to deepen investigations for eventual authorization to obtain financial transactions. “In the future, there may be a new analysis of the request if its relevance is demonstrated”, indicated the magistrate.