Brazil's far-left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that his government's authoritarian fight against social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk sets an example for the whole world to follow.
“The world is not obligated to put up with Musk's far-right ideology just because he's rich,” Lula said. said in Interview Monday on CNN Brazil.
Lula has frequently mentioned Musk's personal wealth in recent days, trying to portray himself as the underdog in the feud with the Tesla CEO, despite his control over a vast national treasury and a repressive state apparatus.
At a press conference in August, Lula said He roared. “That man [Musk] Just because he has a lot of money doesn't give him the right to disrespect the Brazilian state.”
“He's an American citizen, not a world citizen. He can't continue to offend the president, the congressman, the senator and the supreme court,” Lula fumed, completely missing the point that being a US citizen means Musk is free to offend any government official he likes, American or not, and that Musk's lowest paid American employees have the exact same right.
Lula went to prison corruption Having had his marriage suddenly annulled by Brazil's Supreme Court in 2019, allowing him to run for president, he may not be the best person to adjudicate the fate of others.
United Kingdom Guardian, Clearly uncomfortable with throwing the penalty flag against a left-wing authoritarian president, pointed out On Tuesday, it was reported that President Lula may be trying to strengthen Brazil's opposition by trying to shut down its preferred social media platform.
Thousands of supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro are expected to turn out for an Independence Day rally on Saturday in what some see as an explosive display of anger over the court's stance.
Musk is an unashamed ally of Bolsonaro's radical political movement, just as he defended former President Bolsonaro's most important international friend, Donald Trump, ahead of the US presidential election in November.
On Tuesday, the right-wing tech billionaire sent out invitations to his 196 million X followers to take part in Saturday's demonstration, claiming Brazilians would come together to “march for freedom, protest against judicial excesses and defend freedom of speech.”
of Guardian Brazilian columnist Pedro Doria criticized Musk for “trying to portray himself as a flag bearer for freedom of speech” but warned that Lula and his associates have made it much easier for Musk to do so since his recent interference in the presidential election. hit It is clearly “absurd” that Brazilian citizens should be hit with huge fines simply for accessing banned X-content through a virtual private network (VPN).
Meanwhile, Lula himself is becoming a pioneer of the global authoritarian left's vision of tightly regulated freedom of speech granted as a “privilege” by the state, as US Vice President Kamala Harris has described it. put.
Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, is currently the governor of Minnesota. On Monday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Applause Lula and his government expelled Mr. X from Brazil.
