Majority of TSE ministers decided to maintain penalty to Nikolas Ferreira for shared video during the 2022 election campaign.| Photo: Pablo Valadares/Chamber of Deputies

The ministers of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) maintained, this Tuesday (28), the fine of R$ 30,000 to federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) for having shared a video about the then presidential candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Silva (PT), on social media during the 2022 election campaign.

According to the lawsuit, the recording contained decontextualized content about the petista. In the representation filed at the TSE, the Brasil da Esperança coalition claims that the video displayed untrue numbers and information that Lula would confiscate goods and financial assets from the population if he won the election.

The decision of the majority of the TSE Collegiate confirmed the injunction granted by the rapporteur, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who upheld the representation and imposed the fine on the deputy. According to him, the Elections Law does not expressly establish any restriction in the sense of limiting its incidence to cases of anonymity.

However, Moraes voted to adjust the interpretation of the article to abusive manifestations on the internet. “Far from being included in the free expression of thought, they constitute an evident transgression of the normality of the electoral process”, he pointed out.