Influencers who have seen their social networks suspended by the Minister of the Federal Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes for having broadcast speeches deemed anti-democratic have taken refuge in Rumble, an eponymous video platform “immune to the culture of cancellation” . In this network, they maintain the production of content, triggered in the messaging applications, and intensify the dialogue with the supporters.

The profiles, for the most part, are of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro – such as journalists Paulo Figueiredo and Rodrigo Constantino, blogger Allan dos Santos, a fugitive from Brazilian justice, and podcaster Bruno Aiub, known as Monark. The company’s third quarter 2022 report says 71 million people worldwide access the site, including 57 million in the United States and Canada.

Rumble was already mentioned in a Supreme Court ruling on January 11 that called for Monark’s account to be blocked – an order that was disobeyed by the platform. The podcaster was part of the network’s first expansion initiative in Brazil, when the company in March last year signed an exclusive contract with him and left-wing influencer Reginaldo Ferreira da Silva, known as Ferréz, to post videos on the site.

Monark is one of the most active in the network, where he criticizes justice and complains of “censorship”. He often says that Brazil is under “dictatorship”. “China is more democratic than Brazil. There, at least, one guy doesn’t decide everything,” he said live on the 23rd, referring to Moraes.

During the January 8 acts, Monark claimed to have “sympathy” for the radicals. “This state of ours is a nefarious and authoritarian dictatorship.” Hours later, he condemned the actions, but that didn’t stop his accounts from being suspended. The report was sent to Monark, but received no response.

On the 6th, Allan dos Santos released an episode of his Guerra da Informação podcast which did not include him, but two other presenters. One says it’s “a matter of time” for social upheaval in Brazil. “It won’t take long for all of us to see the result of all this pressure on the Brazilian people, on society and also, surprisingly, on the military,” the announcer said.

The same content is also on Spotify, the world’s largest music and podcasting platform. The company did not respond to the report.

Divergence

For experts, the absence of stricter restrictions on the platform attracts influencers. “The big platforms have started taking uncomfortable measures; the small ones aren’t respecting them,” said InternetLab executive director Francisco Brito Cruz. “If Rumble receives an order from a Brazilian court and does not comply with it, it is not a question of wanting it or not. He cannot do that. You can discuss, question the decision, but you can’t break it.”

Already in the assessment of the lawyer André Marsiglia, the suspensions of Moraes can configure “a prior censorship”. “I understand that suspending a profile is prior censorship because it prevents a person from speaking out in the future. There is no future offense, an offense that has not taken place,” said he declared.

Cruz advocated taking preventative measures to avoid episodes like the 8 attack. Telegram and Rumble did not respond. The Supreme Court declined to comment. Allan dos Santos, Constantino and Figueiredo have not been located.

The information comes from the newspaper State of S. Paulo.

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