Source: Valor International

Former President Jair Bolsonaro’s defense told Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes that he did not authorize the use of his image or voice in an artificial intelligence–generated video shown at the Liberal Party’s national convention that formally launched Senator Flávio Bolsonaro as the party’s presidential candidate on Saturday (25). The defense filing argued that court-ordered visitor restrictions — a 30-day ban on Bolsonaro receiving visitors and a 90-day ban on Flávio visiting him — demonstrate there was no contact to authorize production of the material, and the filing accompanied criticism on X alleging “political censorship” by Moraes. Justice Moraes had ordered Bolsonaro to explain the matter and warned that unauthorized dissemination could violate a TSE resolution banning synthetic media in election campaigns and potentially justify revoking humanitarian house arrest.

Justices from the Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) interviewed by Valor said any sanctions against Flávio Bolsonaro would originate at the Electoral Court, although the case could reach the Supreme Court on appeal. One TSE justice told Valor that an AI-generated video alone would likely be insufficient to prove abuse of political or economic power unless it could be shown to have the potential to distort the presidential race; that justice and others said a fine and a takedown order are the more plausible outcomes. TSE President Kassio Nunes Marques has said campaign use of AI is lawful unless used to attack candidates or officials, a stance some Supreme Court justices fear could encourage irregularities; they said the Supreme Court might intervene only if the Electoral Court fails to act. Separately, Flávio’s campaign argued before the TSE that the challenged clip is not a deepfake, while the Workers’ Party lodged a challenge; Moraes warned that any consent by Bolsonaro for such dissemination would be a new violation of court orders and could prompt stricter penalties. This article was translated using an artificial intelligence tool under Valor International editorial supervision.