SP court condemns Sleeping Giants for defamation against Jovem Pan

Judge Adilson Araki Ribeiro, of the 9th Civil Court of the São Paulo Court of Justice, condemned Sleeping Giants Brasil (SGBR) for the crime of defamation against Jovem Pan.

With the decision, the group will have to compensate the broadcaster R$20,000, in addition to ending the defamatory campaign on social media and deleting all posts on the topic and the WhatsApp groups used to propagate the campaign at the risk of a daily fine of R$ 1 thousand.

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.

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

According to the decision, Sleeping Giants Brasil’s defamatory campaign “transcends the legitimate limits of its right to freedom of expression” and is a “true offense to the image and honor” of the broadcaster.

“The ‘#demonetizajovempan’ initiative links the author to undemocratic acts and the propagation of hate speech, without proving the verisimilitude of such statements. Furthermore, it is clear that the action even diverges from its objective, as it tarnishes democracy and the circulation of information and free political debate by stating that the author deliberately supports coup acts against Brazilian democracy”, says an excerpt from the decision published on Wednesday (10).

Sleeping Giants will also have to pay the legal costs. The group may still appeal the decision at the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP).

“The sentence handed down by the Magistrate recognized that Jovem Pan was unfairly and illegally attacked by Sleeping Giants Brasil. The illegal conduct of Sleeping Giants Brasil, as the Magistrate recognized, transcended the limits of freedom of expression, characterizing the image and honor of Jovem Pan as an offense. Even though it was attacked in an illegal and unconstitutional way, Jovem Pan always trusted in justice and sought the legal means to defend your honor and image. Justice was done”, said the broadcaster’s defense lawyer, José Frederico Manssur.

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

The TJ-SP’s decision was made within the scope of the 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 also for the crime of defamation.