The Supreme Court fined the Crusoé magazine R$100k (US$ 26k), alleging that it did not comply to remove a “fake news" article that mentioned the President of the Supreme Court, minister Dias Toffoli.
The magazine says that the article has already been deleted.
In the article, contractor and prosecutor Marcelo Odebrecht said that when he wrote “friend of the friend of my father,” in an email, he was referring to magistrate Toffoli.
According to the magazine, which was notified of the Supreme Court fine Monday night (15), the decision simply said that “non-compliance with the court order was certified,’’ without any additional explanation.
André Marsiglia dos Santos, the magazine’s lawyer, called the fine “absurd,” because the article was deleted from the site as quickly as possible.
Supreme Court Minister Alexandre ordered online magazines Crusoé and O Antagonista to remove all reporting that included any mention of Toffoli made by Odebrecht in an email, alleging that it was fake news.
Folha had access to the authentic document, signed by the lawyer of Odebrecht, and determined that it was not fake news.
According to GLOBO television, the document was included in the Lavo Jato proceedings in Curitiba on April 9 and withdrawn three days later after the article was published by Crusoe. The reasons for this move are unknown.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon