São Paulo’s Regional Electoral Court ordered a Workers’ Party state lawmaker to remove a video that portrayed Governor Tarcísio de Freitas as Chucky, the killer doll from the horror franchise Child’s Play. The injunction, issued on July 1, cited indications of negative electoral advertising and irregular use of artificial intelligence.
The case was brought by the São Paulo branch of Republicans, the party of Tarcísio, against state deputy Emídio de Souza, the Workers’ Party (PT), and the Brazil of Hope Federation, an electoral alliance formed by PT, the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) and the Green Party (PV). This article is based on single-source reporting from Revista Oeste.
What the Court Said
Auxiliary judge Domitila Manssur said the video appeared to go beyond the normal limits of political criticism by linking Tarcísio to violence, crime and destruction. According to the report, the court considered that the material could amount to negative electoral advertising against a pre-candidate.
Brazil’s electoral courts regulate campaign and pre-campaign conduct, including digital advertising and attacks on candidates. The São Paulo Regional Electoral Court (TRE-SP) is the state-level electoral court responsible for disputes involving elections in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state.
The judge also identified signs that the video used artificial intelligence manipulation without a clear warning to viewers. Revista Oeste reported that Manssur cited a rule from Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the national electoral authority, requiring manipulated or AI-generated campaign content to be clearly identified and barring its use to favor or harm candidacies, including during the pre-campaign period.
The Video and the Dispute
According to Republicans, Emídio posted the video on Instagram and the party’s state branch also reproduced the content. Revista Oeste said the documents attached to the case showed only a screenshot of the post on the lawmaker’s profile.
The montage reportedly shows former President Jair Bolsonaro handing São Paulo state a “gift,” represented by Tarcísio’s face placed on Chucky’s body. It then shows the governor in scenes associated with an explosion linked to Sabesp, São Paulo’s water and sanitation company, a broken car window, violence, femicide and fires in the city of São Paulo.
Tarcísio, a former Bolsonaro infrastructure minister, has governed São Paulo since 2023. Emídio de Souza is helping draft the government plan for Fernando Haddad, a PT politician and pre-candidate for the São Paulo governorship, according to the report.
PT’s Response
The São Paulo branch of the Workers’ Party said it had filed a defense because it believed the case lacked the legal conditions to proceed. The party denied publishing the video and said Republicans had not attached evidence connecting PT to the post.
The party also said it did not know who authored the material and described it as satire. That argument puts the case in a recurring tension in Brazilian electoral law: where courts draw the line between political parody, personal attack and unlawful campaign material in a heavily regulated election environment.
Tarcísio’s pre-campaign said electoral disputes should be conducted through proposals and comparisons of public records. It also said it would seek judicial relief when it believed opponents used disinformation, personal attacks or ridicule.