EXCLUSIVE - Over 100 individuals advocating for free speech signed an open letter to the Brazilian Congress on Thursday, demanding an end to the "censorship crisis" which has seen X banned nationwide in the South American country.
Notable academics, journalists, thought leaders and politicians condemned the suspension of X in Brazil, describing the shutdown of the platform, majority-owned by Elon Musk, across the country as "a dangerous escalation" of the "troubling trend of global censorship of speech."
On August 8, X announced that Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes had ordered the blocking of certain accounts belonging to journalists and politicians, as part of an effort to combat "misinformation." When X resisted his calls to do so, de Moraes threatened arrest.
After the platform refused to comply with government orders to shut down certain accounts, the judge ordered the "immediate, complete and total suspension of X’s operations" across the country on Aug. 20, threatening fines of around $9,000 per day if anyone tried using a virtual private network (VPN) to access the platform.
Another Musk-led company, Starlink, is also facing a legal battle to remain in Brazil after the same Supreme Court judge ordered its financial accounts in Brazil frozen.
"This situation extends dark beyond Brazil, serving as a striking example of a growing trend of censorship by government officials, who are becoming increasingly aggressive in suppressing speech they find objectionable," the letter reads. "If this censorship in Brazil is allowed to persist, it could set a dangerous precedent that quickly spreads."
"Recently, other world leaders have expressed pro-censorship sentiments and there is no quicker path to the demise of democracy than the erosion of free speech," the letter continues.
Signatories include former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, former U.S. Ambassador and Senator Sam Brownback, Princeton Professor Robert P. George, women's sports activist Riley Gaines, historian David Starkey, Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon, author and columnist Rod Dreher, X "Spaces" host Mario Nawfal, children's rights campaigner Chris Elston, aka "Billboard Chris," Singaporean activist Melissa Chen, as well as journalists and commentators Michael Shellenberger, Andy Ngo and Eva Vlaardingerbroek.
"This act of judicial overreach punishes both the platform and its users, stifling free discourse and violating Brazil's own constitution, which prohibits '[a]ny and all censorship of a political, ideological, and artistic nature,'" the letter states. "The decision also violated international agreements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights."
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The initiative was coordinated by legal advocacy group ADF International and asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which has jurisdiction over Brazil under the American Convention on Human Rights, to demand its urgent intervention against the violation of free speech.
Signatory Michael Shellenberger, the author and journalist behind "The Twitter Files," has been targeted for a criminal investigation for reporting on the censorship efforts of Brazilian courts.
"I am being criminally investigated by Brazilian authorities for exposing their attempts to censor," he said in a statement announcing the news. "Brazil has reached a crisis point where a lone Supreme Court judge could wield his authority to shut down X in the country."
"Under the guise of promoting democracy, and despite growing backlash from home and abroad, Brazilian authorities have created the most oppressive culture of censorship in the western hemisphere," he added. "It’s not only bad policy and bad politics, it’s a blatant violation of basic human rights for authorities to ban the speech of their own citizens. It’s inconceivable that human beings should be censored and silenced by other human beings simply because they disagree with their speech."
The letter concludes by urging the Brazilian government to respect the rights of its citizens and "restore the free flow of information" so people can express their views "without fear of retribution."
"Freedom of expression is not negotiable, nor is it a privilege – it is the cornerstone of every democratic society," the letter reads. "We must defend it whenever it is under threat, whether in Brazil or anywhere else in the world."
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ADF International is also encouraging members of the public to sign onto the open letter.
Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, described the state of censorship in Brazil as "severe and worsening to an extreme degree, positioning the country among the worst for restrictions on speech in the Americas."
"Every Brazilian has the fundamental human right to free speech," he said. "By clamping down on speech and banning ‘X,’ what Brazilian authorities are doing is directly in violation of both Brazilian and international law, and the global community must hold them accountable."
"If Brazil is allowed to continue in this authoritarian vein, other countries across the West could likely follow in its footsteps, imposing draconian orders to silence speech and banning digital meeting places," he added. "It is imperative that we use our voices to speak up for free expression while we have still have the freedom to do so."
Rep. Chris Smith, R-.N.J., the chair of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee, told Fox News Digital that the government of Brazil has both raised the stakes and hit a new low.
Brazil "has moved from persecuting political opposition by removing them from social media to banning one of the biggest social news networks in the world and making it illegal for Brazilians to access it."
"Threats to free speech are threats to free elections and to democracy itself," he said.
