Aesthetic theory has always considered hyperbolic exaggerations to be innocent. That is, those language excesses that, due to their disproportion, announce their falsehood without trickery. Their metaphors may have a certain sense in children’s or religious literature, but today they also dominate the conversation on social networks. And their purpose is not so innocuous. In the last few hours, Elon Musk’s platform, X, has been closed in Brazil by court order after the company refused to suspend six accounts close to the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ argument is crystal clear: these profiles spread false information. And the tycoon’s response debases the debate on freedom of expression.
“The current Brazilian government likes to wear the guise of a free democracy, while crushing the people under its boot,” Musk said. But there are more hyperbolic claims from the owner of the social network that nostalgic people continue to call Twitter. “We will begin publishing Alexandre de Moraes’ long list of crimes, along with the specific Brazilian laws he broke, tomorrow. Obviously, he doesn’t need to abide by US law, but he does need to abide by the laws of his own country. He is a dictator and a fraud, not a judge,” he said.
Last week Musk even defended Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France and released on bail after being charged with covering up crimes. But the businessman’s defence, amid cartoonish exaggerations, of the right to express oneself freely is, above all, the defence of a business, his business.
We will begin publishing the long list of @Alexandre‘s crimes, along with the specific Brazilian laws that he broke tomorrow.
Obviously, he does not need to abide by US law, but he does need to abide by his own country’s laws.
He is a dictator and a fraud, not a justice. https://t.co/m93B1r0v98
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 31, 2024
Among the accounts affected by Judge Moraes’ ruling is that of a senator, Marcos do Val, who, after the assault on the three branches of government in January 2023, claimed that a Bolsonaro advisor invited him to join a coup to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office. The legislator continued to attack the Supreme Court judge on Saturday, through a VPN or virtual private network that allowed him to bypass the blockade, caricaturing him as a Guantanamo prisoner. Meanwhile, Musk continued his battle: “Freedom of expression is the basis of democracy and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes.”
A new life for everyone, the Guantanamo prison is being renovated by the Pentagon, awaiting the release next year of the Ditator and greatest violator of human rights in America, Alexandre de Moraes. Quem disse isso foi nothing more nothing less than the future president two… pic.twitter.com/Z29OAqnD6Y
— Marcos do Val (@marcosdoval) August 31, 2024
Hyperbole is not innocent, because, inside and outside of social media, there are those who buy into his arguments. Musk is not only the owner of X, but he has made his platform, which has 22 million users in Brazil alone, an ideological war machine. And, on the American stage, he openly uses all his reach against the Democratic Party and its candidate, Kamala Harris, and in favor of former President Donald Trump, whose account was suspended on Twitter and Facebook after the assault on the Capitol. “Freedom of expression is under massive attack around the world,” Musk said, echoing a post in which the current vice president defends something as simple as the importance of taking responsibility for what is preached.
Trump was banned from the main networks due to the risk of inciting violence, but the tycoon founded his own platform, Truth Social, where he continues to spread what he wants. Likewise, followers of Bolsonaro or another politician who want to publish hoaxes on X will continue to do so, in all likelihood, bypassing the restrictions, while the vast majority of users of the network will lose information, conversations and will have to migrate to other platforms. President Lula himself told his audience where they should follow him.
But if Musk’s messages are fueled by unbelievable hyperbole, so are many of his adversaries. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, at his ideological antipodes, last week accused opposition leader María Corina Machado of forming “a satanic pact” with the owner of Tesla and Starlink. Delirium is always transversal.
#Elon #Musk #Brazil #Hyperbole #Lies
