RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A survey conducted by the data analysis company Novelo Data found that 2,100 videos published by Bolsonarist channels on YouTube have vanished from the platform since early June.
Of the 81 content producers monitored by the Novelo team, at least 37 had their videos deleted this month. The record holder in deletions was the ‘Gigante Patriota’ channel, with 1,300 fewer videos available to network users – 94 percent of them were removed last weekend.
Since late May, Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been authorizing proceedings against bloggers, entrepreneurs and legislators who comprise President Jair Bolsonaro’s internet support base. There is suspicion that attacks on the Court have been carried out with the help of these individuals.
The same may have occurred with the holding of anti-democratic rallies. The removal of videos may be related to an attempt by the channels not to be considered in the court proceedings in the virtual attacks case, and by the Office of the Prosecutor General (PGR) in the protests case.
One of the most well-known figures among the targets of Moraes’ decisions, blogger Allan dos Santos from the ‘Terça Livre’ channel, had 272 videos removed this month, up until last Saturday. Santos was the target of search and seizure warrants on two occasions.
Other channels also had a significant number of videos removed until last Saturday, such as ‘Foco do Brasil’ (66 videos); ‘Notícias News N. N.’ (45 videos); ‘Notícias Políticas’ (43 videos); ‘Ficha Social’ (40 videos); ‘Seu Tube’ (33 videos) and ‘Folha Política’ (24 videos).