Brazil court rejects Lulinha's bid to remove Bolsonaro's video

A São Paulo court has denied a request by businessman Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, widely known as Lulinha, to take down a video published by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. The video links the son of Brazil's president to alleged embezzlement from the INSS social security agency.

Judge Alessandra Lopes Santana de Mello stated that the request requires careful consideration and a full adversarial review to prevent undue restrictions on freedom of expression and criticism. The video, posted in early July, depicts a simulated scenario of Flávio piloting an aircraft during a mission to locate Lula's son. It accuses Lulinha of "suspected of having stolen millions from Brazilians" and states that "the theft from the elderly cannot go unpunished."

Lulinha's legal team argues that Bolsonaro used artificial intelligence to create the video, attributing false and defamatory criminal accusations. However, the judge found that the evidence presented by Lulinha does not yet conclusively prove the video's content is false. She noted that the preliminary request to remove the video may be re-evaluated after hearing Bolsonaro's side.

In a separate decision, the court ordered social media platforms X and Instagram to preserve data related to the publications. Lulinha is also seeking 10,000 Brazilian reais in moral damages and a judicial recognition that Bolsonaro abused his rights by disseminating false and defamatory imputations using AI. Lulinha is currently the subject of three federal investigations concerning alleged influence peddling.

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o pedido deve ser avaliado com maior "cautela e sob crivo do contraditório", para evitar o cerceamento indevido da liberdade de expressão e do direito de crítica.