Provisional decision provides for reinstatement of the Tuesday Free channels under a fine of R $ 5,000 per day. Judge understood that YouTube’s decision was disproportionate and violates freedom of expression. It is possible to appeal.
The São Paulo court ordered YouTube and Google to re-establish the availability of two video channels on the internet by the blogger Bolsonarista Allan dos Santos, author of the “Tuesday Free” page and investigated by the Supreme Court (STF) in an investigation that investigates the spread of fake news.
The decision, on a preliminary (provisional) basis, was issued on Friday (14) by Judge Mathias Coltro, from the 5th Chamber of Private Law of the TJ, and must be served under penalty of a fine of R $ 5,000 per day. The decision determines that the channels return to availability in all media – streaming, chat, subscription for members, subscribers and free access.
It is possible to appeal. In a note to G1, Google and YouTube said that “we have not been officially summoned and we have not commented on ongoing legal cases.”
When determining the resumption of the channels, the judge also said that they have been on the air for more than 6 years, with more than one million subscribers and 8 thousand subscribing members, “in addition to having a team of 50 employees and having numerous expenses for its maintenance, in such a way that the simple exclusion of the accounts turns out to be too drastic “.
Two channels of Tuesday Free TV were suspended by YouTube on February 3 and, on Sunday morning (14), were still off the air. The blogger’s defense argued in the lawsuit that the decision to remove all videos from the channels was “unilateral” and “arbitrary” and that he tried to contact the companies to obtain the restoration of the videos, but did not get a return.
According to the lawyers of Allan dos Santos, the YouTube clauses that remove pages from the air are “subjective” and affront freedom of expression and contractual freedom.
In the decision that granted the resumption of the Tuesday Free channels on Youtube, the judge stated that the exclusion of the videos “appears to be disproportionate, violating the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression and information”.
Coltrou even cited a decision by STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes defending freedom of expression.
Moraes is the rapporteur of an investigation in the Supreme Court that investigates attacks on the Supreme Court through the propagation of false content on the internet, the so-called fake news, in which Allan dos Santos is one of those investigated. Another ongoing investigation in which the blogger is also targeted investigates the financing of anti-democratic acts.
In both cases, Allan dos Santos denies involvement in irregularities. In the fake news survey, the blogger says the investigation is “unconstitutional” and will come to the conclusion that he “lives off the products he sells”.
The blogger has also been the target of Federal Police operations. In 2020, he announced that he left Brazil, but did not disclose where he is living.
