Brazil Senators ask high court to bar Bolsonaro from social media

A Senate panel probing the Brazilian government’s pandemic response asked the Supreme Court and prosecutor general’s office Tuesday to suspend President Jair Bolsonaro from social media for falsely linking Covid-19 vaccines to AIDS.

The Senators called for the far-right leader to be barred indefinitely from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after he cited non-existent “official reports” from the British government allegedly finding fully vaccinated people are developing AIDS “much faster than expected.”

Bolsonaro made the claim Thursday in his weekly live address on Facebook, which has removed the video for violating its policies on spreading misinformation. YouTube went a step further Monday, suspending Bolsonaro for a week, in addition to blocking the clip.

The request came as the Senate commission, which has spent the past six months investigating the Bolsonaro government’s pandemic response, prepared to vote on a damning final report that recommends the president face multiple charges, including crimes against humanity, for downplaying Covid-19 and flouting expert advice on containing it.

The pandemic has claimed more than 600,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.