SAO PAULO (AP) 鈥 Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo鈥檚 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.
鈥淭hank you for defending our freedom,鈥 read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur.
Saturday鈥檚 march is a test of Bolsonaro鈥檚 capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil's electoral court has . 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.
鈥淎 country without liberty can't celebrate anything this day,鈥 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鈥檚 nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of 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 on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro's defeat in the .
The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro鈥檚 allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva鈥檚 government of colluding to silence their movement.
鈥淓lon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,鈥 staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. 鈥淭he right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn鈥檛 want the right to exist.鈥
鈥淥ur 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,鈥 added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday,
Musk, a self-proclaimed 鈥渇ree speech absolutist,鈥 has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else's post claiming that X鈥檚 ban had awakened people 鈥渢o the fact that freedom isn鈥檛 free and needs to be fought for.鈥 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 restrictive under Brazil's laws than it is in the U.S., Musk has emerged as both a cause c茅l猫bre 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鈥檚 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 U.S.-based company refused to name a new representative 鈥 as required in order to receive court notices 鈥 and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so.
A Supreme Court panel , 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.
鈥淪ome of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,鈥 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鈥 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鈥檚 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 . He has since toned down the attacks 鈥 a reflection of his own delicate legal situation.
Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.
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AP Writers Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.
