STF maintains R$75,000 fine for Bolsonaro’s coalition for promoting website against Lula

The Second Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided to maintain the fine of R$ 75 thousand to the Coalition for the Good of Brazil, of the then candidate for re-election Jair Bolsonaro (PL), for the irregular promotion of a website that published negative electoral propaganda against the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the 2022 election. The ministers unanimously decided to maintain the fine set by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

The appeal was judged in a virtual session that ended this Tuesday (17). The ministers: André Mendonça, Edson Fachin, Gilmar Mendes and Nunes Marques followed the understanding of the rapporteur, Dias Toffoli. “The irregularities pointed out by the TSE were the lack of indication of the contractor’s National Register of Legal Entities (CNPJ) and warning that it was electoral propaganda, in addition to the lack of prior communication to the Electoral Court of the electronic address”, informed the STF , in note.

According to the Electoral Court, the promotion of content on the internet is only permitted to promote or benefit candidates or their parties, without the possibility of amplifying the reach of critical or negative propaganda against opponents.

As a result, Bolsonaro’s coalition was fined R$60,000 for violating the rules that deal with the dissemination of content during elections; R$5,000 for violating the rules for electoral propaganda on the internet; and R$10,000 for non-compliance with the TSE decision that had prohibited promotion and ordered the coalition to list the website as one of its official campaign pages, according to the Court.

The coalition’s defense argued, among other points, that the website was only for reproducing journalistic news, and not content extracted from a website recognized in the records as official for Bolsonaro’s campaign. The lawyers also considered that there were violations of freedom of expression and of the press. The rapporteur, Minister Dias Toffoli, had already denied the appeal in a monocratic decision.

However, the coalition presented a regulatory appeal that was taken to the collegiate’s judgment. At the trial, Toffoli maintained the conclusions of his individual decision and explained that the appeal cannot be accepted, as it would be necessary to re-examine the facts and evidence in the case, which is prohibited “in an extraordinary appeal by STF Summary 279”.