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An arrest order has been issued against Google Brazil’s president over his refusal to remove YouTube videos that “slander” a mayoral candidate, judicial authorities said.
An electoral court yesterday said Fabio Jose Silva Coelho committed the crime of “disobedience” by not removing two videos that “slander, insult and defame” Campo Grande candidate Alcides Bernal.
The tribunal, in the southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, also asked Google to block YouTube in the town of Campo Grande, or the entire State, for 24 hours.
The arrest warrant was issued last week by Regional Electoral Tribunal judge Flavio Saad Peren and another judge rejected an appeal by Google this week.
Google said the videos were not negative election advertisements and a spokesman for the Internet giant said the company is not responsible for the content posted on YouTube.
The videos accuse the mayoral candidate of “instigating abortion, drunkenness, physical injury of a minor, illicit enrichment, and contempt as well as prejudice against the underprivileged,” according to the indictment.
Mato Grosso do Sul federal police said they received the arrest warrant and forwarded it to their colleagues in Sao Paulo, where Silva Coelho lives.
But Sao Paulo police said they have yet to receive the warrant.
Ten days ago, an electoral judge in the northeast state of Paraiba took similar action against Edmundo Balthazar, a Google director in Brazil, for failing to comply with an order to remove from YouTube a video in which a mayoral candidate was described as “a donkey“.
Google appealed the decision and the court decided that Balthazar could not be held responsible for the video content.
The jail sentence was suspended.
The first round of municipal elections in more than 5,000 Brazilian cities is scheduled for October 7.
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