Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
Aug 4 19 tweets 13 min read Read on X
🚨EXCLUSIVE: JANUARY 8 FILES

New leaked files reveal that Brazil’s Supreme Court illegally used social media posts to incarcerate pro-Bolsonaro protesters.

On January 8, 2023, hundreds of supporters of former President @JairBolsonaro entered government buildings in Brasília, in an episode strikingly similar to January 6 in the US. Many were elderly or ill and committed no acts of violence. Yet all were labeled “coup plotters,” “terrorists,” and “fascists” by Brazil’s president @LulaOficial and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Now, the JANUARY 8 FILES show that Moraes created a secret and illegal intelligence task force that used social media posts to justify the imprisonment of nonviolent protesters.

Moraes and his task force:
— operated through a secret WhatsApp group that created illegal intelligence “reports”
— kept protestors detained while performing scans of their social media;
— used online speech as a basis for “preventative” imprisonment;
— denied lawyers access to evidence;
— illegally used a biometric database to identify protesters.

These files reveal that January 8 prosecutions were politically motivated and involved sweeping abuses of power.

Moraes, serving Lula’s interests, bypassed the law to effectively criminalize political speech. His overprosecution of protesters helped legitimize the narrative that January 8 was a coordinated “coup attempt” – a narrative central to the court’s ongoing prosecution of Bolsonaro.

The JANUARY 8 FILES investigation was led by @david_agape_ and @EliVieiraJr and edited by @galexybraneImage
CONTEXT:

Last Month, Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and prohibited him from using social media and communicating with other individuals under investigation.

Brazil now faces 50% tariffs from the US, a measure set to go into effect on August 6.

Moraes’ “creative” use of his powers — sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act for human rights abuses by US Secretary of State @marcorubio — was the basis for:
— Banning @jairbolsonaro from elections for 8 years
— Censoring journalists & attempts at intimidation against critics like @elonmusk
— Mass arrests and asset freezes of innocent people

This is lawfare at its highest level.

The leaked JANUARY 8 FILES reveal new material from the “Vaza Toga” archive first exposed by @ggreenwald and @FabioSerapiao.Image
“The Prosecutor General’s Office asked for their release, but the Justice doesn’t want to let them go before we check their social media.”

In the weeks following January 8, hundreds of detainees remained in jail — even when the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) formally recommended their release. Legal deadlines were ignored, violating the Code of Criminal Procedure.

What public defenders and attorneys suspected, but could not yet prove, can now be confirmed. The real reason behind the delays was that Moraes was waiting for his task force to scan defendants’ social media accounts.

In a WhatsApp message on February 13, 2023, Moraes’ loyal chief of staff, Cristina Kusahara, acknowledged that the PGO had recommended the release of a group of detainees, but Moraes “doesn’t want to let them go before we can check their social media.”Image
“May we give each person what they deserve: prison! 😜😜😜😜😜.”

On March 1, 2023, Judge Airton Vieira sent a farewell message to the WhatsApp group. He had just wrapped up his role overseeing custody hearings for the January 8 detainees.

The judge, tasked with ensuring fairness and due process, was openly celebrating a presumed outcome. “May we give each person what they deserve: prison! 😜😜😜😜😜,” he wrote, as if guilt had already been determined long before any trial.

The judge’s reference to “the other groups” hinted at the existence of multiple parallel chats. According to our sources within the TSE, there were several other WhatsApp groups used to discuss official matters — all part of a broader, compartmentalized network operating entirely in the shadows.Image
HOW IT WORKED:

Kusahara, relaying orders from Moraes, ran the group with authoritarian rigor, demanding speed and volume.

STF & TSE officials participated, incluindo Eduardo Tagliaferro, head of the TSE’s anti-disinformation unit.

The task force followed a three step process:

— First, they received lists of detainees from the Federal Police
— Then they illegally queried the TSE’s biometric database, GestBio, to identify protesters
— Using the data to find social media accounts, the team produced “reports” that labeled each detainee as positive (those who would remain in jail) or negative (those who had a chance to walk free)
ANALYSIS:

Our team analyzed the spreadsheets used by the task force to classify detainees. According to the STF’s records, 1,398 reports were issued. Of the 319 people classified with 69 reports we were able to access, 42 people were tagged as “positive” and 277 as “negative.” We then cross-referenced the data with the STF’s lists of individuals who were released or sent to prison after the hearings.

While a negative report was no guarantee of release, no one who received a positive report was released. These secret reports were never shown to defense attorneys.

Reasons for a positive report included:

— Sharing posts about protests
— Posting pro-Bolsonaro content
— Wearing green and yellow (Brazilian flag colors)
— Following right-wing pages
— Criticizing the STF, Lula, or the elections
— Participating in Telegram or WhatsApp groups
— Reposting content labeled “disinformation”Image
“So, according to Egghead, nobody can question anything?”

In one case, the task force flagged a truck driver, Claudiomiro da Rosa Soares, for a series of Facebook posts that criticized Lula and questioned the 2022 election. Accused of “violent attempt against the democratic state,” the man spent 11 months and 7 days in jail without ever committing a violent act.

Among the truck driver’s cited content: a meme asking “How did this guy get 60 million votes?” after Lula was booed at Pelé’s funeral; a comment accusing Supreme Court justices of being “sellouts”; and a reposted news story about election fraud with a comment criticizing Moraes: “So, according to Egghead [Moraes], nobody can question anything?”Image
“Enforcing the Constitution is not a coup.”

Adenilson Demetrio de Cordova received a “positive” label because of a single post found on X. It linked to a petition titled “Manifesto to the Brazilian Nation – In Defense of Liberty,” published months before the 2022 election by a profile with zero followers and zero views.

Another man, Ademir da Silva, was kept in jail for a single Instagram post. The post read: “Enforcing the Constitution is not a coup.” That alone was classified as “anti-democratic” and as evidence of “discontent with the 2022 election results.” No other content was cited.Image
Image
“I can go into full detail, but it won’t meet the speed you all need.”

Errors were common. A woman named Vildete was mistakenly flagged as “positive.” Minutes later, the team realized they had confused her with someone else and changed her label to “negative.”

Moraes’ demand for fast results, Tagliaferro said, meant the task force had to cut corners. “I can go into full detail,” he said, “but it won’t meet the speed you all need.”

The woman mistakenly labeled “positive” was likely Vildete da Silva Guardia, a 74-year-old retiree. Even with a corrected report, she remained in jail — and was only released 21 days later due to severe intestinal bleeding.

Vildete was later hauled from her home to prison and later handed a sentence of 11 years and 11 months. More than a year on, the grandmother remains behind bars in a wheelchair, her bids for medical release repeatedly refused.Image
Image
A “shameful stain on the Supreme Court”

Ademir Domingos Pinto da Silva, a 54-year-old street vendor from southern Brazil, wasn’t even present at the January 8 riots. He arrived later that night at the military camp in Brasília to sell flags and T-shirts. Police blocked him from leaving, and he was detained.

He was labeled “positive” not for any act of violence, but for tweets from 2018 criticizing Lula and the Workers’ Party. None of them mentioned January 8, or even the 2022 election. His report was signed by the disinformation unit and used to justify four months in prison and a criminal conviction. He now wears an ankle monitor and is required to complete community service.

His lawyer called the case “a shameful stain on the Supreme Court” and said he was convicted “without a single justice reading his file.”Image
“We can’t afford to sit around philosophizing.”

Sources close to the investigation revealed that Moraes' representative, Kusahara, “basically told the judges what to do,” despite holding no official position in the court.

Kusahara left no doubt that the purpose of the operation was to determine who should stay in jail. “We have 1,200 detainees, and most will be released,” she wrote on January 13, 2023. “We can’t afford to sit around philosophizing.”

Kusahara scolded the team, saying, “I need this done with caution, but not at your TSE pace. Sorry to say, but you guys are spoiled.”

Tagliaferro raised concerns, pointing out that his team had “never done this before,” and the unit was “created for something else.” His objection underscored the illegal nature of the operation. The TSE’s disinformation unit had no mandate to conduct investigations.Image
Image
Image
“Does the team have the women’s positive reports handy so I can print and show them to the Justice?”

The group’s messages make it clear that Moraes dictated their activities. On March 8, 2023, the STF made headlines by announcing the release of 149 women on International Women’s Day. Five days earlier, Kusahara asked the WhatsApp group, “Does the team have the women’s positive reports handy so I can print and show them to the Justice?”

Moraes’ release of female detainees was celebrated by the media as “compassion.”

But leaked chats show the truth: the women were kept in jail two extra months so Moraes could stage the “liberation” on a symbolic date — using the same “positive/negative” reports.Image
“Can I reach out to partners?”

Later on March 3, Kusahara wrote, “I’m going to pass on an instruction from the Justice: Ask Eduardo to check whether they’ve participated in any WhatsApp or Telegram groups about the coup.”

In an effort to comply, Tagliaferro asked if he could reach out to “partners” — unaccountable fact-checkers and academics that could infiltrate private group chats and collect data for the court. Kusahara told him to bypass official government channels and send the request directly to a personal email account used by Moraes. “I already told him you’ll be writing,” she added.

Moraes’ task force thereby outsourced political espionage to civilians acting as spies, with no warrants or legal chain of command.Image
Image
Image
“A distortion typical of authoritarian regimes”

Legal experts are unanimous: the STF and TSE broke all legal boundaries.

Marco Aurélio Mello, former Supreme Court Justice, called Moraes’ power grab “nefarious.” and the Jan 8 sentences “disproportionate.” Said Mello, “I cannot understand how they can be sentenced to 15, 16, 17 years in prison. Those are sentences for murderers or armed robbers, not for rioters or vandals.”

Attorney André Marsíglia, a freedom of expression specialist, said the court’s creation of illegal reports represents “an unconstitutional takeover of prosecutorial functions — a distortion typical of authoritarian regimes, where the law is weaponized as a tool of revenge.”

Ives Gandra da Silva Martins, a respected  90‑year‑old law scholar, says Moraes turned the task force into “a kind of guardian of what may or may not be said in Brazilian democracy.”Image
“Because we have already lived through dictatorships, and we don’t want any more.”

This is a portrait of a judiciary turned into a political weapon.

Jailing people for opinions, censoring critics, and spying on citizens is something no democracy tolerates.

Last week, President Lula told the New York Times, “The democratic state of law for us is a sacred thing, because we have already lived through dictatorships, and we don’t want any more.”

But today, it is Lula and his emissary, Moraes, who have destroyed the democratic state of law and turned Brazil into a dictatorship where the expression of political dissent is grounds for imprisonment.Image
We requested comments from the STF, the TSE, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Brazilian Army, Moraes, and other individuals in the WhatsApp group. None responded by the time of publication.

Read the full investigation by @david_agape_ & @EliVieiraJr here:



/ENDcivilizationworks.org/cw-master-blog…
@david_agape_ @EliVieiraJr Trending 🔥🔥🔥 Image
@david_agape_ @EliVieiraJr #1 Image
@david_agape_ @EliVieiraJr 👀 Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michael Shellenberger

Michael Shellenberger Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @shellenberger

Sep 5
The European Parliament has blocked access to Public.News, apparently in response to TWITTER FILES-FRANCE. @vonderleyen @DelphineColard are ignoring Members of Parliament. This is the censorship that @EmmanuelMacron & @vonderleyen seek to impose on the world. x.com/v_joron/status…
.@DelphineColard and @vonderleyen are obligated by the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure to provide prompt and reasoned replies to requests for information from Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Here is the right-of-reply email I sent. Image
@DelphineColard @vonderleyen Please read and share TWITTER FILES - FRANCE and see for yourself the censorship scheme pursued by @EmmanuelMacron:

Read 5 tweets
Sep 3
🚨TWITTER FILES – FRANCE

L'administration Trump et l'UE conduisent d’âpres négociations commerciales. Leur principal point d’achoppement?  La censure européenne des plateformes numériques. L'année dernière, Thierry Breton,  alors commissaire européen au marché intérieur, avait menacé Elon Musk de sanctions après l'annonce d'une interview avec Donald Trump sur X. Nombreux sont ceux qui tablent sur “l’effet Bruxelles”, la taille importante du marché de l'UE qui lui permet d’imposer sa réglementation au monde entier, y compris aux entreprises américaines, afin de procéder à la censure du contenu publié sur les plateformes, y compris par des citoyens américains résidant aux USA et protégés par le premier amendement de leur Constitution.

Des nouvelles informations extraites des TWITTER FILES laissent penser à une alliance objective du pouvoir politique français, de gouvernements successifs, de parlementaires, d’ONG affiliées à l'État, de médias mainstream subventionnés par l’Etat et d'institutions universitaires, travaillant à inciter le plus influent des réseaux sociaux à censurer des discours pourtant licites et à influencer sa « modération de contenu » bien au delà des frontières françaises et européennes.

Les TWITTER FILES et le rapport “La France a inventé le complexe industriel de censure” révèlent les origines de cette stratégie de censure holistique, pour ne pas dire totale, dont les pièces maîtresses sont les ONG  :

— Le président Macron a tenté avec insistance de contacter le PDG de Twitter de l’époque, Jack Dorsey ;
— Le timing de l’action de Macron suggère fortement une coordination avec des ONG afin d’obtenir davantage de censure et exiger la communication de données personnelles et sensibles des utilisateurs de Twitter ;
— L’enchaînement des événements indique des tentatives de contournement de la loi de la part de divers acteurs non étatiques.

L' enquête TWITTER FILES - FRANCE a été réalisée par @McmahonPascal et @battleforeurope, et éditée par @galexybrane et @shellenberger.
2. « Le président Macron veut envoyer un SMS à Jack »

Le 14 octobre 2020, la directrice des affaires publiques de Twitter pour la France et la Russie a écrit : « L'équipe du président Macron m'a demandé (encore !) le numéro de Jack parce que le président veut lui envoyer par SMS quelques mots de soutien concernant nos nouvelles politiques et fonctionnalités sur l'intégrité des élections. »

Problème : Dorsey ne communique pas ses coordonnées, même aux chefs d'État. « Je lui ai déjà indiqué qu'il pouvait lui envoyer un message privé. Je vais encore le réitérer, mais je voulais d'abord vérifier auprès de vous que Jack ne communique jamais son numéro », a poursuivi la cadre de Twitter.

Public News a demandé une réaction au président Macron. Cette demande est restée lettre morte.Image
3. « Macron n’envoie de SMS qu’à ses proches et à ses collègues… »

La première réponse au courriel de la directrice des affaires publiques France et Russie  est venue de vice-présidente monde des affaires publiques, qui a mis en copie Vijaya Gadde,à l’époque directrice juridique de Twitter et l’un des principaux censeurs de la plateforme.

Cette cadre écrit : « Je sais que Macron n'envoie des SMS qu'à ses proches et qu'il collabore fréquemment avec ses collègues et ses homologues (comme Angela Merkel) par SMS. Pourriez-vous demander à Jack s'il accepterait un SMS de Macron ? Nous demanderons à son équipe de ne communiquer le numéro de Jack qu'à Macron. Merci. »

Le bureau de Dorsey a répondu : « Je vais contacter Jack. Y a-t-il une alternative ? Pour info : Jack n'a pas de numéro de téléphone (je le jure) et seule son équipe rapprochée sait où le joindre. »

« J'ai insisté pour un message privé, mais apparemment, Macron n'utilise pas Twitter lui-même et souhaite écrire un message personnel. Peut-être sur Telegram ou Signal? »

Suit un examen de divers canaux de communication possibles: courrier électronique, Signal, Telegram et iMessage.

Pourquoi donc Macron était-il si empressé d’entrer en contact avec Dorsey ?Image
Image
Image
Image
Read 19 tweets
Sep 3
🚨TWITTER FILES – FRANCE

At this moment, the Trump administration is negotiating with the EU over final obstacles to a trade deal, one of which is European censorship of US social media platforms.

Many analysts believe the massive size of the EU will lead US social media firms to impose European censorship, including on Americans. Last year, the EU’s then-top digital censor, Thierry Breton, threatened action against Elon Musk after he announced a conversation on X with Donald Trump.

Now, new TWITTER FILES show a coordinated effort by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, legislators, and state-affiliated NGOs working together to force the world’s most influential social media platform to censor users for legal speech and influence Twitter’s worldwide “content moderation” for narrative control.

What’s more, TWITTER FILES - FRANCE reveals the birth of the censorship-by-NGO proxy strategy at the heart of the Censorship Industrial Complex:

— President Macron personally reached out to then-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey;
— The timing of Macron’s action strongly suggests coordination with NGOs on a pressure campaign to win more censorship and demand sensitive user data from Twitter;
— The pattern of events indicates potentially illegal activity by various actors.

The TWITTER FILES FRANCE investigation was led by @McmahonPascal and @battleforeurope, and edited by @galexybrane and @shellenberger.

We are releasing the Files here on X and simultaneously publishing a comprehensive report by Clerótte and Fazi on France’s invention of the Censorship Industrial Complex.
2. “President Macron wants to text Jack”

On October 14, 2020, Twitter’s Public Policy Director for France and Russia wrote, “President Macron's team has been asking me (again!) Jack's number because the President wants to text him some supporting words re our new policies and functionalities on Election integrity.”

There was one issue, though – Dorsey did not give out his contact information, even to heads of state. “I have already advised that he could send him a DM. I'll push back again, but wanted to double check with you first that indeed Jack never shares his number,” the policy director wrote.

Public requested a response from President Macron and did not hear back.Image
3. “Macron only sends texts to people he is close to and works frequently with…”

The first reply came from Twitter's Global Vice President of Public Affairs, who copied Vijaya Gadde, one of the platform's chief censors.

This Global Vice President of Public Affairs noted, “I know that Macron only sends texts to people he is close to and works frequently with colleagues and senior govt. leaders (like Angela Merkel) over text. [redacted] - could you pls. ask Jack if he would be willing to accept a text from Macron, and we will ask Macron's team only to share Jack's number with Macron? Thanks.”

Dorsey’s office replied, “Will circle w Jack. Is there an alternative? FYI: Jack doesn’t have a phone number (I swear) and only immediate team has his contact info to get a hold of him.”

“I am really pushing for DM but apparently Macron doesn’t use Twitter by himself and wants to do a personal note. Maybe a telegram or signal.”

This was followed by a review of various potential communication channels, including email, Signal, Telegram, and iMessage.

But why was Macron so desperate to get in contact with Dorsey?Image
Image
Image
Image
Read 19 tweets
Aug 31
Conservative populists lead the polls in Europe and so governments are censoring, banning, and prosecuting them. Chancellor @_FriedrichMerz & President @EmmanuelMacron are violating NATO’s charter. Americans should ask why we’re spending billions to defend such totalitarianism. Image
France is on the verge of preventing its presidential frontrunner @MLP_officiel from running for office
@MLP_officiel "In order to save democracy, we must censor, ban, and prosecute the opposition" Image
Read 5 tweets
Aug 26
Industrial wind energy doesn't kill whales, insisted the media. But a new report by a top government scientist reveals that the Biden admin. broke the law in approving Empire Wind, while Revolution Wind is in a crucial "magical space for marine animals" at risk of extinction. Image
For years, the Biden Administration insisted that offshore wind energy projects complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 1970 law that requires government agencies to use the best available science to evaluate the ecological impacts of major projects before the government can approve them.

But now, a scientific report, which reflects the official position of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reveals that the approval of the Empire Wind project off New York and New Jersey violated this law.Image
The scientist who authored the report works for the U.S. government’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is also known as NOAA Fisheries. It is part of the Department of Commerce, and which serves in an advisory capacity to the Department of the Interior on marine issues, including offshore wind development. The person spoke exclusively to Public.Image
Read 12 tweets
Aug 20
In response to "fact checkers," Facebook last year banned @EpochTimes for saying arctic sea ice wasn't declining. But @EpochTimes was right. Even @guardian now admits it. Mark Zuckerberg @finkd — you owe an apology to everyone you censored. Image
Most self-appointed fact-checkers are liars. They spread disinformation and then demanded censorship on the basis of it. They did this with everything from the Hunter Biden Laptop to transgenderism to the Great Barrier Reef. They should be shut down.Image
Image
Image
They lied about the growing coral on the Great Barrier Reef and got Facebook to censor Australia's top scientist on the issue.Image
Image
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(