Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today called on Brazil’s government to reverse its recent decision to block access to X (formerly known as Twitter) and ban its citizens from accessing the popular social media platform.

            “The government of Brazil has both raised the stakes and hit a new low—it has expanded from persecuting political opposition by removing them from social media to banning one of the biggest social news networks in the world and making it illegal for Brazilians to access it,” said Smith, the Chair of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee.

            “Brazil must immediately reverse course,” said Smith. “Threats to free speech are threats to free elections and to democracy itself.”

            Smith, who has long been an outspoken advocate in Congress for victims of human rights violations, chaired a congressional hearing in May examining Brazil’s extensive human rights abuses. In advance of his hearing, Smith also requested information from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on allegations against the government of Brazil.

            Earlier this year, Smith also hosted a news conference on Capitol Hill where Brazilians who had been de-platformed from social media by order of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes shared personal testimonies of government persecution.

            Smith said he asked de Moraes about the allegations in a letter, but has yet to hear back from the Supreme Court Justice.

            “On June 21, I sent a letter to Minister Alexandre de Moraes asking for information about allegations regarding de Moraes’s role in widespread human rights violations committed,” said Smith. “Minister de Moraes did not reply—nor did I hear from the Presidents of the Federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies, who also received my letter to de Moraes.”

            “In order to respond to the crisis de Moraes has created in Brazil, I am now working with colleagues on legislation about the matter,” said Smith, who thanked all the Brazilian patriots who are fighting for freedom and democratic government.

            Smith, an international human rights leader, has long had grave concerns about human rights in Brazil under President Lula’s rule. In 2009, Smith traveled to Brazil to successfully fight for the return of a New Jersey child who had been abducted and held there for five years.

            As part of that effort, Smith authored the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act, the landmark law that provides the U.S. State Department with a variety of tools to pressure foreign governments and bring home American children abducted overseas.

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