A former foreign minister under Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro called on the Biden administration to condemn his country’s ban of social media platform X, saying the US has a “responsibility” to speak out.
The U.S. has a “responsibility to be a benchmark for democracy, the rule of law and freedom in the Western Hemisphere,” said Ernesto Araújo, who served as foreign minister in Bolsonaro’s administration from 2019 to 2021. But the White House has been silent for too long, he said, and its reluctance to defend free speech dates back to even before the X ban.
“The Biden administration has not kept its promises for a long time, and with what is happening in Brazil, the ban on X is not a sudden thing,” Araújo told Fox News Digital. “This is just one more step after many to restrict fundamental rights in Brazil, to destroy the rule of law and to destroy democracy, something that was committed by the Supreme Court and most of the politicians, and that the administration did nothing about.”
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Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes I banned X last week X’s operations in Brazil were “immediately and completely suspended” because the company failed to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo holds a press conference at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia on March 2, 2021. (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)
The ban will continue “until all court orders have been complied with, fines have been duly paid and new legal representatives for the company have been appointed in the country.” According to The Guardian:.
X, led by outspoken owner Elon Musk, refused to comply with Judge Moraes’ order to ban several accounts linked to individuals allegedly involved in last year’s failed coup attempt, with the powerful judge arguing the accounts were spreading misinformation and posing a threat.
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Musk accused the judge, an ally of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, of attacking free speech and said the order violated the Brazilian constitution. In a post on X, he further alleged that the judge had targeted his platform for “political reasons.”
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, September 20, 2023, in New York City. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The White House has remained silent on the matter and declined a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The State Department has not commented on the decision.
“I think the United States has this kind of international responsibility in the world, particularly in the Western Hemisphere,” Araujo said. “The United States should be an ally of those who seek to defend freedom, not an ally of those who destroy it.”
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (L) presents U.S. President Donald Trump with a soccer jersey during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, March 19, 2019. Trump said he was “very keen” to make Brazil a formal U.S. ally, which would give Brazil preferential access to U.S. military equipment and technology. (Chris Kleponis/Pool via Bloomberg)
“So I see the Biden administration, the Democratic Party, showing a lot of sympathy for the wrong people in Latin America,” he added. “This is not about right or left, this is simply about people who claim to support democracy.”
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The order was unpopular in Brazil and the resulting ban sparked fierce debate in the country, with many users switching to other platforms, primarily rivals Bluesky and Threads.
X has one-fifth and one-sixth the number of users in Brazil as Instagram and TikTok, respectively, but the platform has become outsizedly influential, serving as a key home for news outlets and political and thought leaders.
Elon Musk is photographed during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives chamber on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Isabella Patriota, development director and Brazil chapter president of the Women’s Alliance for Freedom, said: He told FOX Business The protests are expected to escalate on Saturday, coinciding with Brazil’s Independence Day.
While many Brazilians are finding alternatives to social media, former government officials and supporters of President Bolsonaro argue the ban will be a catalyst for more. Patriota worries that the court could ultimately take similar action if it determines that other platforms and services pose a threat. Musk also owns Starlink, the satellite internet service that has been targeted by President de Moraes.
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“X is just one platform, and many Brazilians have already migrated to other platforms, but Starlink provides access to so many communities in the Amazon region that would not have been accessible without it,” Patriota said.
Araujo also expressed concern about his country’s international trajectory, noting that Brazil continues to build ties with “the territorial blocs of China, Russia and Iran.”
“Basically, it’s a game,” Araújo said. “Lula wants to play this game. He wants to ally Brazil with the enemies of freedom, with the enemies of the United States.”
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“I think there are people in the State Department and in the Democratic Party who think Lula is their friend. They also, whether it’s out of special interests or they just don’t understand what’s going on, think Lula is the good guy and the Brazilian right is the bad guy.”
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time of publication.
