Brazil's Dictator-Judge Removed from Controversial 'Fake News' Inquiry

The head of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), Justice Edson Fachin, on Wednesday removed Justice Alexandre de Moraes from the widely controversial inquiry against “fake news” amid an ongoing crisis at the nation’s Supreme Court.

The decision strips Justice de Moraes from an inquiry he used over the past years to enact a fierce persecution and censorship campaign against Brazilian conservative voices — with former President Jair Bolsonaro being the most prominent target of de Moraes, the inquiry’s now-former rapporteur.

Over the past weeks the Brazilian top court has found itself amidst a “Civil War” between Justices de Moraes and André Mendonça that has plunged the judiciary and its members into an ongoing crisis.

The situation began in early September when Justice Mendonça unsealed a police report containing an analysis of alleged WhatsApp messages involving Justice de Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, who is a Brazilian banker currently under police custody on corruption accusations stemming from the “Banco Master” financial fraud case involving the eponymous São Paulo-based bank. Justice Mendonça is one of the STF Justices overseeing the fraud case.

Days after the report was unsealed, Justice de Moraes accused fellow Justice Mendonça of having committed “abuse of authority” throughout his supervision of the Banco Master case.

Justice de Moraes formally requested before STF chief Justice Fachin that the inquiry against “fake news” was used to investigate the allegations he presented against Justice Mendonça. Fachin declined de Moraes’ request and instead directly forwarded the complaint against Mendonça to his desk.

On Wednesday, Fachin announced that de Moraes has been removed from the “fake news” inquiry but upheld all rulings and decisions made by de Moraes under its framework. Fachin also called upon an upcoming plenary session of the Brazilian Supreme Court to discuss the ongoing judiciary crisis.

The Brazilian state-owned news agency Agência Brasil recounted that the controversial inquiry was originally launched by the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2019 with the alleged goal of fighting what was described as the “dissemination of news that undermined the integrity and security” of the STF, its Justices, and relatives.

At the time, Justice de Moraes was appointed as the inquiry’s rapporteur by then-STF chief Justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli, a still-active member of the Brazilian top court who found himself at the center of an unrelated controversy earlier this month after he banned and rapidly unbanned the presidential campaign of outsider right-wing candidate Renan Santos.

In the following years since its 2019 launch, de Moraes made extensive use of the “fake news” inquiry to persecute and censor a lengthy list of conservative politicians, journalists, and activists in Brazil. Former President Jair Bolsonaro was the target of numerous actions signed off by de Moraes under the controversial inquiry.

One of the most notable uses of the “fake news” inquiry against Bolsonaro by de Moraes involved accusations that the former president had allegedly falsified a Wuhan coronavirus vaccine card to visit the United States between late 2022 and early 2023. The charges were ultimately dropped years later, in 2025.

The conservative former president is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence on alleged “crimes against democracy” under a strict house arrest at his home in Brasília. As per the terms of his house arrest, Bolsonaro is legally prohibited from speaking to the press or receiving visits outside of his doctors and lawyers.

In 2024, a report published by the left-wing Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo claimed that de Moraes had allegedly ordered Brazil’s Electoral Court to produce unofficial reports that he could then use to substantiate rulings issued against conservatives under the “fake news” inquiry.

The “fake news” inquiry has been continuously renewed and its scope expanded in the following years since its original 2019 launch. STF Chief Justice Fachin affirmed last week that he will bring the controversial inquiry to an end amidst the ongoing crisis at the Brazilian Supreme Court.

The BBC reported that de Moraes had summoned reporters for a Thursday morning statement, however, the Justice abruptly canceled the event one hour before it was scheduled to take place, giving no explanation besides stating that the event would be “rescheduled” at a later date.

The BBC noted that the statement would have been the controversial Justice’s first public remarks since the unsettlement of the police report that started the ongoing crisis at the judiciary.

Information reportedly received by CNN Brasil on Thursday morning indicates that de Moraes intends to “defend his actions in the fight against hate speech and the spread of fake news” as the rapporteur of the “fake news” inquiry on his now-canceled statement. Unnamed judges asked for comment by CNN Brasil reportedly stated that they believe de Moraes’ statement would have the “unintended consequence” of “once again bringing institutional instability to the forefront of public opinion.”

According to CNN Brasil, the controversial Justice has told allies that he is not considering the possibility of early retirement from the Brazilian Supreme Court due to his alleged contact with the arrested banker Daniel Vorcaro.