➡️ On his last day of official engagements in China, Basbaum also visited the headquarters of the social network Xiaohongshu, or Red Note in English. The platform currently has around 350 million users and intends to begin operating in Brazil as a propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party in the country.

➡️ The Brazilian delegation also visited the headquarters of the Xinhua news agency in Shanghai, where it was received by the agency’s president and Chinese Communist Party secretary, Fu Hua; and also visited the Chinese giant iQIYI, a platform for the production and distribution of audiovisual content. The agenda also included visits to social media companies. In Beijing, Basbaum visited the global headquarters of Kwai.

Many of these Brazilian censorship orders specifically target American speech. Justice Moraes has repeatedly tried to silence American podcasters and influencers.

When platforms like X and Rumble refused to enforce these illegal orders on behalf of a foreign government, Justice Moraes banned the platforms.

Brazil’s primary censorship agency, the Integrated Center for Confronting Disinformation and Defending Democracy (CIEDDE), also targets American speech.

Documents show that CIEDDE tried to force X to censor political speech praising President Trump and criticizing former President Biden. X held the line and refused to take the posts down.

👨‍⚖ The statement comes after the release of a new report by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, which accuses Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes of censorship. The document cites orders from the justice for technology companies to remove posts and accounts from platforms.

⚖️ In the declaration, the Department of State says it has expressed concern over decisions by the Brazilian judiciary, considered “broad and disproportionate,” that restrict access to information.

🤡 In addition, it criticizes actions by the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that, according to the department, “secretly suppress unfavorable political opinions — including those of journalists and elected officials — without due process of law.” It did not specify which measures these would be.