Memes show Moraes as a minion boss and western villain

The decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), to block X (formerly Twitter) in Brazil has become a meme on social media.

In one of the montages, the magistrate is represented as the character Gru, leader of the minions in the franchise. “Despicable Me”, who dreams of becoming the greatest villain in the world. In the satire, Moraes and his assistants celebrate the fall of Elon Musk’s social network. The animation also mentions the fine for those who use a VPN to access the platform and bypass the block.

The video shows the minister banning all social media and other apps, such as Uber and IFood, and even phone calls. The intention is to prevent any user from making jokes or criticizing him or the Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, who went viral in July with memes that nicknamed him “Taxxad”. The end of the assemblies with the minister is a request from the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

“Now all that’s missing is the Post Office, the telegraphs, the pigeons and the paper airplanes, […] someone can write an antidemocratic message and throw it at someone else”says Moraes in the satire.

Already a meme based on the movie “Back to the Future 3″ shows a duel between the minister and Musk, created by artificial intelligence. The montage claims that Moraes “it became a joke in the United States.”

The billionaire is shown as time-traveling Marty McFly, who defeats Wild West villain Bufford Tannen (Alexandre de Moraes) with the armor of “free speech (freedom of expression, in Portuguese). The term is used mainly by opposition politicians who say that the businessman is trying to promote free debate in Brazil, which is being limited by the judge.

These are not the first memes about Moraes created after X’s suspension. In a previous montage, the businessman makes a parody of the famous battle scene from the film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”replacing the characters with the faces of Musk and the minister. In the video, the businessman is portrayed as Harry Potter, while the minister takes on the role of Voldemort, the antagonist of the series.

Watch (1min30s):

UNDERSTAND THE MUSK X MORAES CASE

The clash between Musk and the Brazilian Judiciary has intensified since August 17, when the profile of Global Government Relations of the X announced that it would close its office in Brazil, but that the social network would remain available to Brazilians. In the publication, the company states that the measure was taken because of Moraes’ decisions.

In the document, which is part of a confidential process, it is possible to read that Moraes requested the blocking of profiles that published messages “antidemocratic” or with hateful content against authorities – it is not clear how this would have been configured as a violation of Brazilian laws.

The company, however, did not comply with the orders. The judge then increased the fine and gave 24 hours to freeze the accounts, under penalty of arrest for disobeying the court order. He also ordered the arrest of Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição. “for disobedience to a court order”. Rachel de Oliveira is cited as “representative” of X in Brazil.

On Wednesday (August 28), Moraes ordered the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil within 24 hours or risk having its operations suspended throughout the country. The deadline expired at 8:07 p.m. on Thursday (August 29). On Friday (August 30), the minister ordered the suspension of X in Brazil. Here is the full of the decision (PDF – 374 kB).

Access, however, may take until Wednesday (September 4) to be completely blocked. This is because Moraes gave two different deadlines for compliance with the decision. Anatel was given a 24-hour deadline to notify all internet providers in the country after the notification. This deadline ends this Saturday (August 31), around 5 pm, when the entity must notify the Supreme Court of compliance with the order.

For internet operators, as well as app stores, the decision grants a period of up to 5 days, counting from the date of communication from Anatel, to adopt the necessary measures to block access to X in the country. In other words, until Wednesday (4th September).