Two American tech companies have sued a controversial Brazilian judge over an alleged violation of America’s First Amendment.
Rumble, a video and cloud services company, announced Wednesday that it had joined social media company Truth Social in suing Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for ordering the suspension of U.S.-based accounts. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Florida and seeks “a declaration that de Moraes’ orders are unenforceable in the United States.”
Rumble clarified that neither company has operations and employees in Brazil, though the video platform was recently made available in the country. “Allowing Justice Moraes to muzzle a vocal user on an American digital outlet would jeopardize our country’s bedrock commitment to open and robust debate,” Rumble alleged in the lawsuit. “Neither extraterritorial dictates nor judicial overreach from abroad can override the freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution and law.”
Rumble also contends that de Moraes violated American sovereignty by attempting to enforce a certain censorship action in the U.S. through a Brazilian court. The suit specifically involves an unnamed individual, a former priest and journalist, who fled Brazil to escape political persecution for stating opinions that the government deemed “disinformation.” Brazil’s de Moraes, according to Rumble, tried to have the individual extradited and his American social media accounts shut down.
Truth Social, a social media platform owned by President Donald Trump, and Rumble refuse to comply with the Brazilian justice’s strong-arming. “This case is a landmark battle for free speech in the digital age,” declared Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, noting that the U.S. government has refused to extradite the political dissident.
“[De Moraes] is now attempting to sidestep the U.S. legal system entirely—using secret censorship orders to pressure American companies into banning the political dissident worldwide,” Pavlovski added.
Rumble’s announcement noted that de Moraes just allowed the video platform to be available in Brazil again, but almost immediately demanded censorship of the political dissident’s account. Rumble has opted for free speech over compliance with the foreign government.
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