By Nicholas Hatcher and Alyssa Lukpat
President Trump's media company and the video-sharing platform Rumble are suing a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, accusing him of illegally censoring political discourse on social media in the U.S.
The companies said Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes's gag orders to ban accounts violated U.S. sovereignty and its free-speech protections. They argued he overstepped his authority by suspending U.S. based accounts belonging to a "well-known politically outspoken user," according to the lawsuit, but didn't identify the user.
Florida-based Rumble and the parent company of Trump's Truth Social platform are asking a federal court to declare de Moraes's gag orders unenforceable in the U.S. They filed the suit Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla. Conservative social-media users have flocked to both platforms in recent years.
The companies said, as a result of the gag orders, they have to ban certain politically outspoken users across their entire platforms so U.S. users also wouldn't be able to see the accounts.
"Allowing Justice Moraes to muzzle a vocal user on an American digital outlet would jeopardize our country's bedrock commitment to open and robust debate," the lawsuit said.
Trump's company and Rumble said the justice has targeted critics of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of helping to plot a coup. De Moraes is overseeing investigations into Bolsonaro.
Updates to follow as news develops.
Write to Nicholas Hatcher at nicholas.hatcher@wsj.com and Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2025 09:24 ET (14:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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