Brazilian Election Laws Restrict Information Available to General Population on News Forums

07/31/2018 - 12h05

The way in which Brazil's justices have interpreted the country's election laws has restricted the information available to the general population on various news forums.

In the state of São Paulo, for example, news articles posted on the official web and social media pages of the subway, metropolitan transit and the Fire Department all had to be reduced.

Dozens of readers protested against such measures, calling them "a joke", "absurd", "way off point" and "ridiculous". Some pointed out that such articles represent "a service, not campaign ads" and that justices "do not know how to interpret the law".

	Folhapress
	Twitter screenplay of the Fire Brigade, which stopped updating occurrences due to the electoral law

The Election Laws of 1997 stipulate that, in the three months leading up to an election, "institutional ads regarding actions, programs, construction, services and campaigns carried out by federal, state or municipal agencies, or by entities representing indirect administrators" are prohibited.

In light of this norm, the São Paulo Metro is no longer disclosing events scheduled to take place in its subway stations and the Secretary of Culture is no longer promoting shows, concerts, tours and plays that are sponsored by the state.

On the Fire Department's website, there is no longer any information available concerning fires and accidents.

Many users have complained because they believe that posts of this nature are inherent to services, not campaign ads, leading many to refer to the attitude as a joke that is absurd or in poor taste.

The government told Folha that such changes were enacted not only in order to obey the law, but to obey regulations upheld by the Regional Electoral Court. The statement issued by the government read that "sharing events on the social media pages of the fire department and the Military Police can also be interpreted as institutional advertising, since they promote services that are provided by the government."

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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