Post makes false equivalence between Moraes’ decisions to suggest preference for Lula – 08/02/2023 – Politics

It is misleading to post that compares decisions of the minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Alexandre de Moraes and raises doubts about the difference in deadlines determined by the magistrate. The publication makes a montage with two headlines from CNN Brasil. The first says that Moraes gave five days for Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and government officials to demonstrate about the street population, while the second cites that the minister gave 120 days for the government, already under the command of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), make a diagnosis of the homeless population. The tweet adds a pensive emoji to the caption.

The order and injunction in question, as verified by the Comprova Project, are from June 2022 and July 2023, respectively. To the report, the STF sought to differentiate the decisions. He stated that, in the case of 2022, “it is about opening a period for manifestation (which is provided for by law)”, whereas in the most recent case “it is about a determination for the adoption of pensions”.

Both decisions were taken within the Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental (ADPF) 976, of which Moraes is the rapporteur, proposed on May 22, 2022 by the parties Rede Sustentabilidade and PSOL (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade) and by the MTST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Homeless). In the action, the acronyms and the movement seek to ensure the adoption of measures in relation to the inhumane living conditions of the homeless population in Brazil.

In 2022, the minister requested information on assistance to the homeless population from the President of the Republic, Bolsonaro at the time, from the governors and mayors of the capitals of each state. All parties had five days to submit a statement.

Already in July of this year, Moraes made a series of demands to the Union, states and municipalities, which go beyond a demonstration on the subject. To the federal Executive branch, Moraes determines that, within 120 days, the Action and Monitoring Plan be formulated for the effective implementation of the National Policy for the Homeless Population.

Several users commented on the investigated publication with questions and criticisms of the alleged difference in treatment given by the minister to presidents.

At the request of the report, the professor at PUCRS (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul) and doctor in Criminal Procedural Law Aury Lopes Júnior analyzed the decisions. He classified the verified content as a “distortion” of different situations “so that, apparently, they have an equivalence, when in fact they do not”.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning undergoes changes; that uses inaccurate data or that induces an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that is confusing, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. Until the 1st of August, the publication had 7.8 thousand views on Telegram. On Twitter, before being deleted, the post reached 41,000 views and 2,200 likes by July 28.

How do we check

The first step was to check the two CNN Brasil reports cited by the disinformation piece. Then, with the information that both of Moraes’ decisions were taken within the scope of ADPF 976, the team consulted case law and contacted the STF and the author of the publication. Finally, he spoke with PUCRS professor Aury Lopes Júnior.

The 2022 and 2023 decisions

Moraes’ decisions were taken within the scope of ADPF 976, which deals with the adoption of measures in relation to the inhumane living conditions of the homeless population in the country.

In the dispatch signed by Moraes on May 25, 2022 and published on the 1st of the following month, the minister mentions that “in view of the relevance of the constitutional matter raised, the adoption of the rite of art. 5, paragraph 2, of the Law 9.882/99, so that the authorities responsible for the act can pronounce”. It is based on this paragraph of the law that the five-day period is set.

Thus, information on assistance to the homeless population was requested from the President of the Republic, Bolsonaro at the time, from the governors and mayors of the capitals of each state. All parties had five days to submit a statement.

Already in the preliminary decision of July this year, the reporting minister of the ADPF makes a series of demands to the Union, states and municipalities, which go beyond a manifestation on the subject. To the federal Executive branch, Moraes determines that, within 120 days, the Action and Monitoring Plan be formulated for the effective implementation of the National Policy for the Homeless Population. This document must include at least 15 topics, summarized below:

• The elaboration of a current diagnosis of the homeless population;
• the creation of instruments for permanent diagnosis of this population;
• the development of mechanisms to map the homeless population in the IBGE census;
• establishing means of monitoring eviction and repossession processes;
• the elaboration of guidelines for the intervention of the Public Power, based on the humane and non-violent treatment of the homeless population;
• the development of training programs for public agents to work with the homeless population;
• the incorporation of the demands of the homeless population into the National Housing Policy;
• the analysis of income transfer programs and their capillarity in relation to this population;
• the provision of a direct channel for denouncing violence;
• the elaboration of measures to guarantee minimum standards of quality in reception centres;
• the development of suicide prevention programs;
• the development of educational and public awareness programs on aporophobia and the homeless population;
• the formulation of policies to encourage leaving the streets through employment and training programs for the job market;
• the development of measures to strengthen public policies aimed at housing, work, income, education and culture for homeless people;
• indication of possible tax incentives for hiring homeless workers.

The rapporteur’s decision setting the 120 days for drawing up the plan is still provisional. As of August 11, it must be analyzed by the plenary of the STF. At the trial, the ministers will decide whether or not to confirm Moraes’ understanding.

The National Policy for the Homeless Population was instituted by Decree No. 7053, of December 23, 2009, and presents a series of measures to preserve the health and life of homeless people. To CNN, Moraes said that only five states and 15 municipalities adhered to the national policy. “Therefore, in 12 years, the policy still does not have the adhesion of the great majority of the decentralized federative entities”, declared the magistrate.

false equivalence

Aury Lopes Júnior, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) and PhD in Criminal Procedural Law, explained to Comprova that the objects of each decision are completely different. “Here [na decisão mais recente] it is infinitely more complex, it is already a decision determining that a plan is drawn up, that the diagnosis is pointed out, which are the organs”, he details.

“Back there, it was just information. It’s simply the following: they filed a lawsuit, tell me, you, if what they’re talking about here has any basis. Five days even for the urgency, which is normal.”

For the teacher, what they try to do, in the case of the verified post, is a false equivalence, that is, comparing one situation with another without there being a correlation. “There is an immense malicious distortion of different situations so that, apparently, they have an equivalence, when in fact there is no such equality of situations.”

What the person responsible for the publication says

The report searched for the @mspbra profile by email and messages on Twitter and Facebook, but there was no response until the publication of this check. Content published by the profile has already been checked by Comprova on other occasions, such as when the project proved to be false that Lula had reappointed Nestor Cerveró to Petrobras and that the queue of patients at a health unit in Natal is unrelated to Bolsa Família .

What can we learn from this check

Disinformers often use technical information restricted to a specific area, such as the legal field, to try to confuse the public. In these cases, try to understand the context of the situation presented and the opinion of specialists on the subject. In cases like this verification, which uses headlines from journalistic articles, it is possible to search for the reports to read the complete news.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

STF ministers, as well as the body’s decisions, are frequent targets of pieces of disinformation. Comprova recently showed, for example, that a video by Randolfe Rodrigues asking for the impeachment of STF ministers is from 2019 and that there is no evidence that the complaint against the Minas Gerais judge and the wiretap involving Moraes benefited Lula.