Published on September 4, 2024, 1:03 am

In response to the recent efforts of a judge in Brazil to ban social media platform, X (previously recognized as Twitter), renowned non-profit organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) initiated a petition on Saturday expressing their support for the platform. Evidently, news related to trusted and established institutions taking initiatives in defense of freedom of speech certainly qualifies as real news.

The previous week witnessed a significant verdict by Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes who decided that X should be banned in Brazil for not adhering to his directive. The instruction demanded that the company appoint a legal representative within the Brazilian precinct or suspend numerous accounts. Surprisingly, irrespective of apparent government orders, X has pledged to uphold the freedom of speech rights of its users.

Consequently, this decision has led to potential daily fines amounting up to almost $9,000 for Brazilians who attempt to use X via other methods such as virtual private networks (VPN). In response, ADF submitted a petition requesting an intervention from Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the fare of X as it is under blockage. As per regulation standards under American Convention conditions, Inter-American Commission holds jurisdiction over Brazil.

The unfolding situation hints at an essential commentary expressed by Jeremy Tedesco, ADF’s SVP of Corporate Engagement. He revealed concerns about governments all around adopting dubious approaches towards companies like these. Rather than availing benefits towards human society from them tolerantly, such establishments are utilized as tools for implementing censorship.

Tedesco also extended his concern regarding how prospective challenges coming from censorship could impact freedom and democracy directly since they fundamentally rely upon free expression and speech. He furthers these thoughts stating American citizens should take note of situations similar in essence to this event in Brazil due to “the exact same impulse” residing within our own government guided towards putting restrictions on content sharing and consumption.

He further elaborated instances where he viewed U.S. administrations’ attempts at censorship, citing the FBI’s movement for banning news stories related to Hunter Biden’s laptop being a significant example. Marking another instance, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was continually approached by the Biden-Harris administration to suppress COVID-related posts on their platforms.

Tedesco praised X for maintaining their stance and unveiling governmental strategies to manipulate corporations into suppressing unfavored speech. Every American should be aware of such infractions, as any attempt to leverage private corporations as tools for propaganda, Tedesco warns, could lay detrimental impacts on our inherent democratic rights.

Finally, the article addresses what can be viewed as a cornerstone for this breaking news: that the decision made to suspend access to X was ratified by a panel from the Brazilian Supreme Court only recently. Aligning this development with our Christian worldview strengthens our belief in free speech rights—a fundamental backbone for democracies worldwide.