- President Donald Trump’s media company sued a Brazilian judge in a Florida court on Wednesday.
- The lawsuit accused Justice Alexandre de Moraes of undermining First Amendment rights.
- The lawsuit comes after Moraes received an indictment related to former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
President Donald Trump’s media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court judge, claiming that he censored right-wing voices on social media.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social and Rumble, an online video network platform, accused Justice Alexandre de Moraes of censoring political discourse in the United States and claimed that he undermined the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday and was first reported by The New York Times.
The legal action came soon as de Moraes was deciding whether to arrest former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was charged with masterminding and attempting a coup to cling to power after losing Brazil’s presidential election in 2022.
Brazil’s chief prosecutor brought five charges against Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. They include allegations that he planned to kill de Moraes and poison President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
TMTG and Rumble, which say they are bastions of free speech and are popular with MAGA supporters, said in the lawsuit that de Moraes had “issued sweeping orders to suspend multiple U.S.-based accounts.”
The plaintiffs said the judge wanted to remove accounts he labeled “anti-democratic” and targeted high-profile conservative social media users. They seek a jury trial and permanent injunctive relief.
In August, de Moraes ordered Elon Musk’s X to halt operations in Brazil until it complied with court orders and paid existing fines.