Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’

Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro attends a protest against Bthe Supreme Court on Independence Day in Paulista Avenue, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 7, 2024. (REUTER)
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Updated 08 September 2024
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Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’

Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’
  • The former president has urged his loyalists to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo
  • X platform owner Elon Musk has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally as he hit back against a judicial order banning X
  • Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered X banned in the country for refusing to block accounts that were being used to undermine Brazilian democracy

SAO PAULO: Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo’s main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government’s blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution.
A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil’s flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded.
“Thank you for defending our freedom,” read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur.
Saturday’s march is a test of Bolsonaro’s capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil’s electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It’s also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro’s opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil’s deep-seated political polarization.
“A country without liberty can’t celebrate anything this day,” Bolsonaro wrote on his Instagram account Sept 4., urging Brazilians to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X’s nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro’s defeat in the presidential election.
The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro’s allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government of colluding to silence their movement.
“Elon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,” staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. “The right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn’t want the right to exist.”
“Our liberties are in danger, we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it,” added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday,
Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else’s post claiming that X’s ban had awakened people “to the fact that freedom isn’t free and needs to be fought for.” He’s also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful.
But De Moraes’ decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, is more easily censored under Brazil’s laws than it is in the US, Musk has emerged as both a cause célèbre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech.
Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil’s democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro’s party, according to court records.
But when it refused to take action on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The US-based company refused to name a new representative — as required in order to receive court notices — and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so.
A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes’ decision to block X days later, undermining Musk’s efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech.
The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X.
“Some of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,” said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel.
In the lead-up to Saturday’s protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes’ ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests.
The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil’s anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength.
Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes’ rulings. He has since toned down the attacks — a reflection of his own delicate legal situation.
Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.
 


Advertising network TBWA is committed to ‘building a future’ in Saudi Arabia, says global CEO

Advertising network TBWA is committed to ‘building a future’ in Saudi Arabia, says global CEO
Updated 03 October 2024
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Advertising network TBWA is committed to ‘building a future’ in Saudi Arabia, says global CEO

Advertising network TBWA is committed to ‘building a future’ in Saudi Arabia, says global CEO
  • Earlier this year, parent company Omnicom announced its MidEast RHQ will be based in Riyadh

DUBAI: Creative advertising network TBWA and its parent company Omnicom are looking forward to reinforcing their presence in Saudi Arabia, said Troy Ruhanen, global CEO of TBWA.

“We’re committing to really building a future there (Saudi Arabia),” which included working with more local clients and developing Saudi talent, he said during a recent visit to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

From Jan. 1, 2025, Ruhanen will serve as the global CEO of the newly formed organization Omnicom Advertising Group, which brings together the group’s creative and advertising agencies and networks BBDO, DDB, TBWA, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Zimmerman, and others.

As he prepares for the new role, Ruhanen said that he is eager to explore the (Saudi) marketplace” from both perspectives: TBWA’s to finish the year and Omnicom Advertising Group’s to look at possibilities for next year. 

This June, as a testament to its commitment to the Kingdom, Omnicom announced the establishment of a Middle East regional headquarters in Riyadh, bringing together 10 Omnicom agency brands including BBDO, DDB, TBWA, OMD, PHD, Hearts and Science, and FleishmanHillard.

Currently, TBWA has a mix of local and international talent in Saudi Arabia, partly owing to global clients, because “there are people who are more familiar with those global clients right now,” Ruhanen said. 

However, he added that the network plans “to grow a very locally informed, local leadership kind of base. 

“We know that’s our destiny, and it’s just a matter of making sure that we plan ourselves and transition ourselves to that right place.” 

TBWA has several proprietary platforms and units such as Backslash, self-described as a cultural intelligence unit; NEXT, a global innovation practice based on analytics and strategy; and the Collective AI Platform to harness the power of artificial intelligence for employees and clients.

Launched in June, Collective AI is a suite of generative AI services powered by partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Adobe and Google.

“AI is not meant to be an answer machine,” but rather “a catalyst for original thinking,” Ruhanen said.

The platform has been built by feeding in various strategies, case studies, and so on, to make it a more “informed practice,” he said. 

In terms of the adoption of AI, Ruhanen said there were some “mature corporations” that understood the current boundaries of AI such as regulation and privacy, and there are others who “want to talk about how they’re doing all of these things all at once.”

TBWA’s priority was to protect its clients while also experimenting, within legal boundaries, to see what was possible, he said.

The conversation around AI tended to be dominated by the idea of efficiency and speeding up the creative process, which was the wrong way of looking at it, he said.

He added: “It’s about enabling a better, more accurate, and more informed way of working, (which) is giving us the best place to launch our creative minds and come up with the original solutions that no one has ever seen.

“It can’t be about an efficiency mindset; it has got to be about a growth mindset.”

Addressing concerns about AI’s threat to human talent, Ruhanen recounted a 1994 article by technology magazine WIRED with the headline “Is Advertising Dead?” Over the years, there have been several such articles questioning the role of advertising and agencies in an increasingly digital world.

However, in the past three decades, advertising agencies have “grown tremendously,” he said.

AI will not replace human talent or creative agencies, but will “change the nature of how we operate and the skills we’re going to require,” which means there will be a shift “from a service mindset to much more of a strategic mindset,” Ruhanen said.

“A lot of people have predicted what the future of this business is going to look like, and they’ve been sorely wrong for many years,” he said.


Israel releases Palestinian journalist after 6 months in detention

Israel releases Palestinian journalist after 6 months in detention
Updated 03 October 2024
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Israel releases Palestinian journalist after 6 months in detention

Israel releases Palestinian journalist after 6 months in detention
  • Asmaa Harish was among dozens of reporters held under administrative detention by Israeli authorities

LONDON: Israeli authorities on Wednesday released Palestinian journalist Asmaa Harish, according to local media reports, after she had spent six months in administrative detention at Damon Prison.

Harish was detained in April without charge or trial under the practice of administrative detention, which Israeli authorities often use for “security reasons.”

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a Ramallah-based human rights organization, said that Harish was among more than 80 Palestinian journalists who had been imprisoned and subjected to ill-treatment and rights violations since Oct. 7 last year.

The group added that dozens of Palestinian journalists remain in Israeli custody, including six women who continue to be arbitrarily detained.

Damon Prison, which is located near Haifa, has been criticized by humanitarian organizations for holding Palestinian detainees and undocumented migrant workers in “inhumane conditions.”

The facility was temporarily closed in 2000 following mounting concerns about the treatment of prisoners.

The prisoner support group Addameer in 2023 reported little evidence of “significant changes or improvements” in the prison’s conditions since the 1950s.


Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing
Updated 03 October 2024
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Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing
  • Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border
  • The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives

Brussels: Two Belgian journalists were injured in Lebanon while reporting on overnight air raids in Beirut, their employer said Thursday, as fighting raged between Israel and Hezbollah.
VTM correspondent Robin Ramaekers suffered facial injuries and cameraman Stijn De Smet was being treated for a leg wound, said a statement by the broadcaster’s parent company, DPG Media.
“Last night there was a bombing in central Beirut. When Robin and Stijn wanted to run a report on that, they got injured,” the firm said, adding the pair were being treated in hospital.
“Both are now in safety and are being cared for.”
The circumstances of the incident were not yet clear, the company said. Belgium’s foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation.
Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border.
On Thursday, the Israeli military pounded Beirut with overnight air raids. A total of 17 strikes had hit the capital by dawn, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
One of the strikes hit a Hezbollah rescue facility, a source close to the group told AFP, killing at least six people, according to a Lebanese health ministry toll.
Israel says it is trying to secure its border with Lebanon so tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by nearly a year of hostilities with Hezbollah can return home.
The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives and seen Hezbollah’s long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah killed.
Authorities in Lebanon say that around a million people have been displaced.
Last year, a journalist was killed and six other reporters, including two from AFP, wounded by Israeli shelling while covering the cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon.


Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE

Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE
Updated 03 October 2024
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Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE

Google Doodle celebrates Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup in the UAE

DUBAI: The latest Google Doodle marks the ninth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup, which is being hosted in the UAE.

Ten teams comprising the world’s top female cricketers are divided into two for the group stages, with the top two from each advancing to the knockout semifinals. The victors will battle it out for the title.

Reigning champions Australia are aiming to add a seventh trophy to their collection, while newcomers Scotland are hoping their first-ever appearance in the tournament will result in them taking home the trophy.

The competition was transferred to the UAE from Bangladesh after the South Asian country was hit by political turmoil and domestic instability just months before the tournament was due to open.

A total of 23 games will be played in Sharjah and Dubai, with the final scheduled for Oct. 20.

Bangladesh, who retain hosting rights, kick off the event on Thursday against Scotland in Sharjah. Pakistan will play Sri Lanka at the same venue in the evening.

Defending champions Australia are in Group A along with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, while Group B features South Africa, England, the West Indies, Bangladesh and Scotland.

Australia, who have twice won three in a row, will be mindful of the threat posed by India

The 2023 semifinalists — they lost to Australia in Cape Town — have improved greatly, thanks in large part to the Indian Women’s Premier League. The league was formed to provide a platform for India’s female cricketers to express themselves and gain in stature.

– with AP


X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked

X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked
Updated 02 October 2024
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X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked

X agrees to pay Brazil fines, court orders finances unblocked
  • High-profile judge Moraes has been engaged in a long feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his drive to crack down on disinformation in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian judge on Tuesday ordered the unblocking of the bank accounts of Elon Musk’s X in the country after the social media platform agreed to pay more than $5 million in fines.
The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes paves the way for the suspension of X to be lifted in Brazil, where it has been off-limits to users since August 31 in a standoff over disinformation between the judge and Musk.
Moraes ordered X shut down in Latin America’s biggest country after Musk refused to remove dozens of right-wing accounts and then failed to name a new legal representative in the country as ordered.
In his latest decision, the judge ordered Brazil’s central bank to unblock X’s bank accounts so it can receive transfers and “immediately make payment of the fines indicated.”
X had informed the court it would pay fines to the tune of some $5.2 million, according to the ruling.
High-profile judge Moraes has been engaged in a long feud with Tesla and SpaceX owner Musk as part of his drive to crack down on disinformation in Brazil.
The clash between the Brazilian court and the billionaire has morphed into a high-stakes tussle testing the limits of both freedom of expression and corporate responsibility in South America’s largest country.
X had more than 22 million users in Brazil before the ban, which was put into place on August 31.
The company has in the last week started complying with the Brazilian court’s conditions to get reactivated.
Musk has repeatedly hit out at Moraes in social media posts, calling him an “evil dictator” and dubbing him “Voldemort” after the villain from the “Harry Potter” series.