President Donald Trump is punishing the censorship-obsessed officials in Brazil with a massive new tariff.
As Trump put it in his Wednesday letter to Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva, the 50 percent tariff is “due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections, and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.” Trump pointed to the Brazilian Supreme Court, “which has issued hundreds of SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders to U.S. Social Media platforms,” threatening massive fines and eviction from the country if companies refused to comply with the demanded censorship.
On June 26, De Moraes moved to require Big Tech to remove vaguely defined hate speech, incitement to violence or “anti-democratic acts,” according to Financial Times. In February, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida rejected Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s attempt to force both Rumble and Trump’s Truth Social to shut down the American accounts of a prominent Brazilian dissident who fled his home nation. Last September, the Court pressured X to censor Brazilian dissident accounts and paying fines to avoid a total ban.
These tariffs also come just six weeks after the Trump administration warned that foreign governments censorsing Americans would result in visa restrictions.
In his new letter, Trump made clear that he will compound the tariffs if Brazil attempts to get around them. “Goods transshipped to evade this 50% Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff.” He also warned, “If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 50% that we charge.” Brazil must remove its trading and tariff barriers to free trade with the United States if it wants his administration to revoke its tariff, Trump stated.
De Moraes has raised international controversy by targeting Truth Social, X, Rumble and other social media platforms, pushing them to enforce aggressive censorship against Brazilian dissidents who criticize the current government in Brazil. This campaign even went after those who had left the authoritarian country.
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
