Facebook se recusa a obedecer decisão judicial brasileira e mantém censura ao Jornal do Rio de Janeiro

Por Rj em Foco • 11/10/2025 • Brasil
rjemfoco.com | 11/10/2025
Read Time:6 Minute, 13 Second

The Big Tech company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, continues to ignore a ruling from the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Nova Iguaçu District) and has kept the official page of the Jornal do Rio de Janeiro offline for over a year and a month, causing ongoing and unrepaired damage and, to this day, without receiving any fine. How long will this continue?

The Jornal do Rio de Janeiro continues to be the target of severe prior censorship imposed by Meta, the technology giant behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Despite a clear and favorable court decision by the Brazilian justice system, Meta has kept our page, which even has a commercial company and domain verified on the platform itself, offline for over a year, in flagrant disregard of a court order, causing irreparable damage and without significant penalties.

The issue began on May 6, 2024, when, arbitrarily, unilaterally and without any justification, the Facebook platform removed the official page of Jornal do Rio de Janeiro, preventing the outlet from fulfilling its social role of informing society.

Electronics: YOUR MOTHER DESERVES IT!

At the time, we published a report denouncing the incident: Jornal do Rio de Janeiro Has Its Page Taken Down and Faces Censorship – an article published on May 28, 2024, that brought public attention to this serious attack on press freedom and the constitutional right to information.

Faced with the company’s silence, which didn’t even respond to administrative requests for the page’s restoration, a lawsuit was filed with the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), Nova Iguaçu District, seeking moral damages and, most importantly, a court order for the immediate reactivation of the page.

On August 29, 2024, a favorable ruling was handed down to Jornal do Rio de Janeiro. Judge Samantha Maia, from the Nova Iguaçu District, concluded that Meta had indeed committed a service failure, constituting abuse, violation of the Consumer Protection Code, and breach of constitutional principles that guarantee freedom of the press.

The court ordered Meta to reactivate the page within 20 days, under penalty of a fine to be determined in enforcement, and sentenced the company to pay R$ 5,000 in moral damages, an amount that represents only a fraction of the accumulated losses.

Although the initial claim was R$ 23,000, more than 10 months have passed since the ruling, and 1 year and 1 month since the arbitrary censorship. Meta continues to openly defy Brazilian justice in a clear and persistent manner, keeping the Jornal do Rio de Janeiro’s page offline to this day, with no fine, no sanctions, and no effective measures to force compliance with the court order.

The aggravating factor: The ruling did not impose a daily fine (astreintes) for failing to restore the page, which, in practice, has allowed Meta to disregard the court order without any serious consequences so far.

The Constitution is Clear: Censorship is a Crime

The Federal Constitution of Brazil is unequivocal:

Article 5, item IX: “Freedom of intellectual, artistic, scientific, and communication activity is ensured, regardless of censorship or license.”

Article 220: “No law shall contain provisions that could hinder full freedom of journalistic information in any social communication medium. All forms of political, ideological, and artistic censorship are prohibited.”

This case represents a clear and direct violation of democratic principles and the rule of law. Meta disrespects not only the rights of the Jornal do Rio de Janeiro, but also the Brazilian society’s right to free, plural, and independent information.

A Dangerous Precedent

What is currently underway is a dangerous precedent: a foreign big tech company, operating in Brazil, refuses to comply with a ruling handed down by a Brazilian court, openly challenging authorities, the Constitution, and the fundamental rights of citizens.

If a private foreign company can simply ignore a decision from the Brazilian judiciary, what does this mean for national sovereignty and citizens’ rights?

A Global Pattern of Violations: Fines, Noncompliance, and Threats to Sovereignty

Meta’s behavior and the need for heavy sanctions are not surprising when analyzing the company’s track record. The case of Jornal do Rio de Janeiro fits into a global pattern of disregard for justice, documented both in Brazil and abroad, where the company only acts after the imposition of severe penalties.
In Brazil, the record is extensive and involves all levels of the Judiciary:

  • Mass Data Violation (Cambridge Analytica Case): The company was ordered to pay R$ 6.6 million for the unlawful sharing of data from Brazilian users. The decision was officially released by the Ministry of Justice.

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