Between legality and legitimacy: Differences and reasoning behind the TSE’s definition and blocking of “fake news”

Abstract

This paper analyzes the legal basis on which the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court (TSE) identified and removed content which it considered to be “fake news”. To accomplish this, we evaluate the argumentative strategy behind the first ruling which defined the jurisprudence, including allegations of corruption against then presidential candidate, Marina Silva (Rede party) in the 2018 presidential election. Analysis of this case shows that the legal system went to great efforts to legitimize this case in academic studies, but it appeared to be less concerned with the legal arguments as it only cited recent legal guidelines on the dissemination of fake news but did not provide further detail on them. Even though journalistic sources were included in the legal decision, the legal argument disregarded mainstream news reports.