The Trump administration is coming after foreign government officials who pressure Big Tech platforms to censor Americans—and Brazil might be their first target.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller pointed directly at Brazil on Friday when asked about the administration’s campaign to protect Americans and Big Tech companies from foreign censorship. Addressing reporters on White House grounds, Miller blasted the South American country’s “fairly significant restrictions that have been imposed on the free speech rights of Americans.”
Miller’s comments follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement of visa restrictions on foreigners who push social media companies to censor Americans. The New York Times identified Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a key target of this move and possible sanctions.
The Times admitted, “Over the past several years, [Moraes] has undertaken an aggressive campaign to rid the Brazilian internet of what he says are threats against Brazil’s democratic institutions, ordering the removal of hundreds of social media accounts in the process, nearly all of them right-wing.”
Despite this admission, The Times absurdly put scare quotes around censorship in the article headline: “Trump Administration Targets Brazilian Judge for ‘Censorship.’” Additionally, The Times failed to mention how the Brazilian government has persecuted platforms such as Rumble and X after making censorship requests.
Elon Musk faced fines, threats against Brazilian employees and even moves against the finances of X and SpaceX, for refusing to comply with Brazilian government demands to censor content on X. In August 2024, Musk temporarily closed X’s office in Brazil. The Brazilian government also took millions of dollars from multiple Musk-owned companies and ordered X shut down in Brazil. When X reopened in Brazil, Musk had to pay a $5 million fine.
On Feb. 21, the Brazilian government ordered Rumble to shut down, following the video-sharing platform’s refusal to censor. Since then, Rumble and Truth Social, the social media platform owned by President Donald Trump, have both sued Moraes over demands that they censor Allan dos Santos, a Brazilian national in the U.S. who the Brazilian government wants to prosecute.
The day Rubio announced the State Department’s move against foreign authoritarians, Rumble founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski posted on X, “Dear Alexandre De Moraes, Maybe now is the time to let Rumble back in Brazil? What do you say?”
As The Times article noted, heavier penalties are potentially on the table for Moraes and others who push tech platforms to silence Americans, including under the Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law aimed at targeting foreign perpetrators of human rights violations. This bill, passed by Congress in 2012, imposes hefty penalties on sanctioned Individuals and prohibits American businesses from doing business with them. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) responded to Rubio’s move by calling for heavy sanctions against Moraes.
“Thank you, Secretary Rubio! This is a good first step for Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The Global Magnitsky Act should be next, and I encourage you to expedite your review of whether to sanction Judge Moraes, to hold him accountable for his attacks on democracy in Brazil, and to stop him from issuing secret orders seeking to censor Americans on U.S. soil!”
MRC Free Speech America has reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment, but no response was received before the deadline provided.
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