A standoff between Elon Musk and Brazil escalated on Sunday when a Supreme Court judge opened an inquiry into the billionaire after Musk said he would reactivate accounts on the social media platform X that the judge had ordered blocked.

Musk, the owner of X and a self-declared free speech absolutist, has challenged a decision by Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordering the blocking of certain accounts. He has said X, formerly known as Twitter, would lift all the restrictions because they were unconstitutional and called on Moraes to resign.

Neither Musk, X nor Brazilian authorities have disclosed which social media accounts were ordered blocked. X first posted about the order to block on Saturday but it was not immediately clear when the order was issued.

Moraes is investigating “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages during the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and is also leading an investigation into an alleged coup attempt by Bolsonaro.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    131·
    6 months ago

    “But the other guy might twist it for his own purposes!” is never a good reason not to protect the people from the proliferation of dangerous extremism.

    Especially not when the other guy is someone like Bolsonaro who is a literal fascist and thus, given the power to do so, will limit speech critical of himself and his cronies no matter what anyone else does or doesn’t do.

    • GiveMemes@jlai.luEnglish
      111·
      6 months ago

      They were fascists too dumbass. That’s the point. In the modern geopolitical sphere, the far right has more centrist support than the far left. Just like with Hitler, or in my example, Videla, etc. They promise security and propagandize, often threatening journalists and humanitarian aid workers like we see Israel doing.

      The moment they come to power again within the confines of the system and these laws are already in effect, it gives them the power to crack down on whatever form of ‘extremism’ they want to, now with legal precedent. The problem with fascists is that they are inherently bad actors in a democracy and people must be taught as much so as to avoid such a rise occurring again.

      Just like with the USA War on Drugs, the best thing to do is educate people, not try to ‘protect’ them like with DARE

      The problem is that its not the fascist leader alone, but the proliferation of fascist ideals and sympathies in the population that leads to fascist uprisings. The goal should be to educate about what those are and why they’re bad and fallacious and provably wrong, not to play big brother like China.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        6 months ago

        The problem with fascists is that they are inherently bad actors in a democracy

        That’s my point: they will do their oppressive acts in bad faith no matter what, so not doing something positive due to that is all downside with no upside.

        If there’s not a law/precedent for them to twist, they’ll just make one or even pretend there is one. Meanwhile, limiting the spread of dangerous extremist propaganda DOES make a positive difference.

        The problem is that its not the fascist leader alone, but the proliferation of fascist ideals and sympathies in the population that leads to fascist uprisings

        Which is why combatting their propaganda is necessary and just.

        The goal should be to educate about what those are and why they’re bad and fallacious and provably wrong, not to play big brother like China.

        That makes perfect sense on the surface, but in reality, sufficiently intense and persistent propaganda can’t just be educated away.

        If someone has been told every day by every person they trust that LGBTQ+ people are inherently evil and want to convert and/or molest children, educating them about the fact that vulnerable minorities such as LGBTQ+ people are no more criminal than people in general and are in fact much more likely to be the VICTIMS of crime than anyone else won’t convince them.

        Like covid-19 or a Trump presidency, prevention is far more effective than education after infection when it comes to harmful propaganda.