Justice Gilmar Mendes of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) has asked fellow Justice Alexandre de Moraes to consider investigating politician Romeu Zema in the court's so-called fake news inquiry, according to G1, Poder360 and Revista Oeste. The request stems from satirical videos shared on Zema's social media accounts that portrayed Mendes and Justice Dias Toffoli as puppets in a mocking exchange tied to a recent court decision.
The case remains under seal. Mendes said in his filing that the video attacked not only his own honor and image, but also that of the STF. Moraes, who oversees the inquiry, sent the matter for a view from Brazil's Prosecutor General's Office before deciding whether Zema should be formally included, according to the reports.
What Triggered the Request
The video at the center of the dispute was part of a series called "The Untouchables." In the episode cited by the reports, puppet versions of Toffoli and Mendes joke about overturning secrecy-breaking orders involving a company linked to Toffoli in exchange for favors at a resort. Revista Oeste said the satire referred to Mendes's decision annulling secrecy orders involving Maridt, a company tied to Toffoli and his brothers, in a case previously reported by Estadão.
Zema responded publicly on April 20. According to Revista Oeste and Poder360, he said it was absurd to treat puppet theater as a threat and argued that humor has long been used to criticize power. In an interview with GloboNews cited by G1 and Poder360, he said he had not been notified and accused some STF justices of operating in secret, without giving the other side a proper chance to defend itself.
"I was not notified," Zema said, according to G1 and Poder360. He added that this appeared to be a pattern at the court, with cases advancing under secrecy before the target can respond.
Criticism of the Inquiry
The move quickly broadened into a wider debate over the fake news inquiry itself. Opened in 2019 by then-STF president Dias Toffoli and assigned to Moraes, the investigation was designed to examine threats, defamatory content and disinformation targeting the court and democratic institutions. It has remained active for seven years, under seal, and without a fixed end date, according to Poder360.
Poder360 noted that the inquiry was controversial from the start because it was opened by the court itself rather than by prosecutors. The STF later upheld its legality by a 10-1 vote in 2020.
Transparency International Brazil also weighed in on Monday. In a social media post cited by Revista Oeste, the anti-corruption group criticized the inquiry's longevity and recalled one of Moraes's early decisions in the case, saying he had suspended a tax audit involving the then-wives of Mendes and Toffoli and that the audit was never resumed. The STF had not publicly responded to the NGO's criticism as of the reporting.
Political Fallout
Opposition politicians, especially from Zema's Novo party, said the request showed the inquiry was being used to intimidate critics. Revista Oeste quoted congressman Carlos Jordy, senator Eduardo Girão and congressman Marcel van Hattem as calling the measure disproportionate or abusive. Those statements reflect partisan criticism and were not matched in the provided sources by a detailed defense from the justices beyond Mendes's filing.
The episode lands as Zema has intensified his attacks on the court and positioned himself more openly in national politics. Poder360 described him as a presidential hopeful for 2026. That political backdrop helps explain why a legal dispute over satire is now feeding a larger argument in Brazil about judicial power, free expression and the limits of a court-run inquiry that has become one of the country's most contested institutional tools.
Fonts: https://revistaoeste.com/politica/transparencia-internacional-critica-inquerito-das-fake-news-depois-de-queixa-de-gilmar-contra-zema/#goog_rewarded https://revistaoeste.com/politica/parlamentares-criticam-pedido-de-inclusao-de-zema-no-inquerito-das-ifake-news-i-abuso-de-poder/ https://revistaoeste.com/politica/zema-reage-a-gilmar-serviu-a-carapuca/ https://www.poder360.com.br/poder-justica/alvo-de-gilmar-zema-diz-que-stf-nao-da-o-devido-direito-de-defesa/ https://g1.globo.com/politica/blog/camila-bomfim/post/2026/04/20/gilmar-mendes-pede-a-moraes-que-zema-seja-incluido-no-inquerito-das-fake-news.ghtml
accessed on 21 April 2026