BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Senate investigative committee agreed on Tuesday to request access to records of President Jair Bolsonaro’s internet activity, the latest threat to the far-right leader in a probe of his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The request comes on the day senators are scheduled to vote on the committee’s final report containing the findings of a months’ long investigation, which is expected to include a call for criminal charges https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-senate-report-drops-call-homicide-charge-against-bolsonaro-reports-2021-10-20 against the president.
The president’s office did not immediately reply to a comment request.
In recent days, Facebook and YouTube removed https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/facebook-takes-down-bolsonaro-video-over-false-vaccine-claim-2021-10-25 a video from Bolsonaro in which he made a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines were linked with developing AIDS.
The senators agreed on Tuesday to ask Google, Facebook, and Twitter to send data on the president’s internet activity since April 2020 to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Supreme Court.
The committee called for information such as connection records, Android information and registration data, in addition to the full copy of all content stored on his social network accounts. It also asked that access to the president’s accounts be suspended.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
