TSE fines Carla Zambelli R$30,000 for irregular electoral propaganda on e-title

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) decided to fine federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) R$30,000 for irregular electoral propaganda on the internet. The parliamentarian was condemned for sharing on social media, during the 2022 campaign, posts that said that the “Electoral Justice system would be campaigning in advance for Lula” through the QR Code of the e-title application.

“The misleading publications stated that the QR Code contained in the new digital version of the electoral card would automatically count votes for the benefit of the then candidate for President of the Republic Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva”, informed the TSE, in a note. Two others named in the process were fined R$15,000 each for creating and disseminating false information.

The posts were removed from the platforms in 2022 by order of minister Raul Araújo. At the time, Zambelli denied having produced “fake news” and highlighted that only questions were asked in the posts. The action against the deputy was presented by President Lula’s Brasil da Esperança coalition.

The decision was unanimous, but Minister Nunes Marques disagreed on the amount of the fine for Zambelli. He proposed that the deputy pay R$15,000. The case’s rapporteur, minister Floriano de Azevedo Marques, stated that the value was defined considering the parliamentarian’s “repeat” in spreading “fake news even after the TSE had checked it.”

Marques highlighted that “the tool does not replace the electronic ballot box and is not used to count votes and does not interfere with the voting itself”. “I am particularly concerned about electoral fraud, which occurs in cases like this, in which the person knows they cannot adopt the behavior, knows it is false and, even so, propagates it with a very specific intent”, said the vice-president of the Electoral Court, Minister Cármen Lúcia.