By Nicholas Hatcher, Alyssa Lukpat and Samantha Pearson

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 parent company of Trump's Truth Social platform and Rumble said Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes targeted critics of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. De Moraes is overseeing investigations into Bolsonaro, who has been accused of helping to plot a coup.

The companies said 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.

The user is Allan dos Santos, a former priest and outspoken conservative journalist who is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court, according to a person close to the case. Dos Santos, who has been living in the U.S., couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Brazil's Supreme Court didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Florida-based Rumble and Trump Media & Technology Group 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.

De Moraes has cracked down on speech online in recent years, ordering the arrest of more than a thousand people in Brazil in the name of safeguarding democracy -- mainly antigovernment rioters or those he said had spread lies about the court online.

Brazil's Supreme Court banned X, the social-media platform owned by Elon Musk, in August after a monthslong back-and-forth that started when de Moraes ordered X to remove several accounts deemed to be spreading hate speech and misinformation. X paid millions of dollars in fines so that it could resume operations in the country.

On Tuesday, Bolsonaro, a close ally of Trump, was charged by Brazil's Attorney General's Office with plotting to overturn his 2022 election loss.

Attorney General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro and 33 of his right-wing allies over what police said was a plot to stop da Silva from taking office in 2023, including plans to assassinate the leftist leader.

Bolsonaro denied the accusations, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt by opposition politicians and judges who will stop at nothing to keep him out of office.

Investigators uncovered plans that included a plot to kill da Silva and de Moraes, among others, police said.

Write to Nicholas Hatcher at nicholas.hatcher@wsj.com and Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2025 09:58 ET (14:58 GMT)

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