The Role of the U.S. Government in Brazil’s Censorship Industrial Complex
By Phoebe Smith, Alex Gutentag, Eli Vieira, and David Agape
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Executive Summary
In recent years Brazil’s Supreme Court has taken increasingly drastic measures to censor content online. Although appearing to operate independently, the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) have been heavily influenced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded by the U.S. government. What’s more, multiple U.S. agencies and officials have played a role in encouraging and facilitating censorship in Brazil.
Brazil’s Censorship Industrial Complex – a large network of NGOs, fact-checkers, and state actors – appears to often take cues, training, and financial support from its U.S. counterpart. In backing Brazilian censorship, the U.S. federal government and its subsidiaries have engaged in inappropriate foreign interventions, specifically targeting elections and public policy.
The U.S. entities involved directly and indirectly in Brazil’s Censorship Industrial Complex include the Atlantic Council, Congress, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the White House, and more.
Taken together, the activities of U.S. agencies and government-funded groups present a clear campaign to interfere in Brazil’s democratic process. The U.S. government must cease funding for this and similar campaigns in order to respect the national sovereignty of its allies and avoid undermining democracy abroad.
