In sunny and colourful Brazil, apparently Twitter is the bad social network that caused quite a ruckus for a hopeful running for presidential elections. Aecio Neves, the candidate who ran for presidential elections filed a suit against the well-known social network Twitter, specifically its users. Neves claims that Twitter users ruined his chances to be elected President because they engaged in spreading false rumours and lies about him. Neves’ claim was deemed worthy according to Sao Paolo Justice Court that decided that Neves has just cause. After losing the elections he demanded the IP’s of the Twitter users that accused him of various criminal activities and drug trafficking during his campaign.
Thus far, 66 users that Neves accuses of slandering his campaign have been identified including film producers and journalists. Subsequently, the politician’s legal crew revised this list and removed 11 users for wrongfully including them. The Sao Paolo Justice Court concluded that of the 55 users that participated in the slandering, 22 of them where the most active by producing and distributing defamatory content directed to Neves, claiming that he was linked to criminal activities and behaviour. In response Twitter appealed to the court based on the fact that its users have the freedom of free speech and such a court decision is akin to a censorship.Helmer Amaral from the Justice Court agrees that freedom of speech is a constitutional right but in his opinion this does not grant someone to invade another’s privacy or demand compensations for rendered damages as stated by the Brazilian Constitution.
Neves and his lawyers accuse the Twitter users that they are on the employ of spreading defamatory online content. After the election was lost by a small margin (51 mil. votes for Neves and 54.5 mil. votes for Dilma Rouseff), Neves who proclaims himself as “a spokesman for national change” expressed his deep concerns for the electronic voting system and asks for a special audit to be done regarding the Supreme Court of Elections’ machines.