Brendan Carr, the Commissioner of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), sent, this Thursday (5), a letter to the president of Anatel, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, criticizing the decision of Minister Alexandre de Moraes to ban X in Brazil.
In the text, Carr says he feels compelled to address what he called a “growing set of apparently illegal and partisan actions” that Anatel has allegedly taken against companies with ties to the United States. The Commissioner also cited what he classifies as a “threat to withdraw Starlink’s licenses and authorizations to operate in Brazil.”
According to the FCC member, the punitive actions “publicly supported by the Lula Government” put at risk confidence in the stability and predictability of Brazil’s regulated markets and, as a consequence, American business leaders are questioning whether Brazil is on its way to becoming an “unviable investment market”.
The letter also states that the decision by the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court, Alexandre de Moraes, to suspend X in Brazil violates the Brazilian Constitution and criticized the decision to freeze Starlink’s assets, which, according to the text, did not commit any infraction.
“Under his leadership, Anatel is now actively enforcing a widely criticized decision by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to censor the social media platform X, which Brazilian authorities say violates Brazil’s Constitution and his country’s statutory prohibitions against government censorship. To make matters worse, Justice Moraes has chosen to enforce his decision by freezing Starlink’s assets, despite the fact that Starlink is a separate company with distinct shareholders that has committed no wrongdoing.”
Brendan Carr emphasizes that communications regulatory agencies, such as the FCC and Anatel itself, must oppose the move towards censorship, but recognizes Brazil’s sovereignty.
“While Minister Moraes’ actions mirror crackdowns on free speech that are occurring around the world, I am not writing today out of any widespread concern about free speech, although I strongly believe that communications regulators like us should oppose this trend toward censorship. Nor am I arguing that these actions by the Brazilian government in any way violate U.S. free speech laws. As a sovereign country, Brazil has its own laws and precedents.”
The Commissioner says that the ban on X and the serious actions against Starlink in Brazil could harm the relationship between the FCC and Anatel and proposes a meeting with Baigorri, saying that he will come to Brazil if necessary.
“The serious and apparently illegal actions against X and Starlink cannot be reconciled with the principles of reciprocity, rule of law, and independence that have served as the basis for the relationship between the FCC and ANATEL and for reciprocal foreign investment. Therefore, I am requesting a meeting with you to address and resolve these issues. If you prefer, I can travel to Brazil to do so.”
This content was originally published in Member of US agency that regulates communications criticizes Anatel for banning X and asks for meeting on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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