Brazil's Fight Against Fake News - Boon or Bust for Democracy?

The Brazilian Supreme Court is increasingly having to justify its years-long, sprawling investigation dubbed the Fake News Inquiry.  Begun in 2019, the Fake News Inquiry has shifted from investigating false reports that threatened the security of the Supreme Court to focus on any attacks on Brazilian institutions.  This expansion has led many in the country to worry about overreach and the antidemocratic stifling of free speech.

Pushing back on criticism that the Court was silencing certain voices, the chief justice of Brazil's Supreme Court is cited in this article as saying that “imposing other nations’ standards on Brazil was unfair.”   The justice essentially argues that the Brazilian context is key to understanding and evaluating the appropriateness of the Fake News Inquiry and any actions taken as a result.  Similarly, in the context of investigations, an understanding of the Brazilian context is certainly necessary; otherwise, critical information, insights or inferences may be missed. Gathering commentary from a variety of contacts, in addition to a thorough review of the public domain by investigators familiar with the local context, is often crucial.