Facebook and Twitter co-operated with Brazilian investigation of alleged Islamist militants: judge
The judge overseeing the probe that led to the arrest last week of suspected Islamist militants in Brazil said Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc co-operated with investigators by providing information about the suspects’ use of both social networks.
In an interview late Sunday with Fantastico, a weekly news programme on the Globo television network, Judge Marcos Josegrei da Silva said co-operation by both companies, after a judicial order tied to the investigation, was instrumental to understand the nature of discussions carried out by the suspects, a 12th of whom was detained late Sunday.
“The companies began to provide data related to the content of the conversations and data about where those conversations were posted,” the judge said, without providing more details.
Spokesmen for Facebook and Twitter declined to comment on specifics of the case. Both spokesmen said that their respective companies have zero tolerance for activities related to terrorism and other crimes and that they cooperate with law enforcement authorities when necessary.
Brazilian investigators said the suspects in the ongoing probe, dubbed “Operation Hashtag”, are sympathetic to the Islamic State militant group and through messaging services and the Internet had discussed attacking the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which start August 5.
In the interview, the judge said “there is no anonymity for those sorts of activities on the internet.”
