On July 30, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing additional tariffs on Brazilian goods, raising the total rate to 50 percent, with the measure taking effect on August 6. While officially framed as a response to currency manipulation and unfair trade, the deeper message was clear. The tariff signals not just economic retaliation, but a transnational backlash against Brazil’s emerging digital constitutionalism. At the heart of Brazil’s approach is a legal framework that treats platform governance as essential to democracy. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) has taken a leading role in countering disinformation, political extremism, and digital abuse. In doing so, it is redefining the boundaries of platform responsibility and free expression — not as private matters, but as constitutional questions vital to the health of democracy itself.
Brazil’s Digital Sovereignty Is Under Attack: How Courts, Platforms, and Constitutional Law Are Redefining Democracy Online (Sahasranshu Dash and Ana Tereza Duarte Lima de Barros – Just Security)
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