The president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Edson Fachin, decided to remove Minister Alexandre de Moraes from the leadership of the fake news inquiry (Inquiry 4,781). The decision ends the delegation that allowed Moraes to conduct the case and establishes a review of procedures still ongoing before forwarding them to the Federal Police and the Attorney General's Office.
The measure paves the way for the closure of an investigation opened more than seven years ago. The end of the inquiry had been publicly defended by the president of the Court himself, Luiz Roberto Barroso, who will assume the rapporteurship of the case after the transition.
Through an ordinance signed on Wednesday, Fachin determined that inquiries, petitions, and other preliminary investigation procedures that are still ongoing and have been distributed by prevention to the inquiry return, in whatever state they are in, to the presidency of the Supreme Court.
Although the decision did not order the immediate extinction of the fake news inquiry, it represents a significant step toward its closure, transferring pending procedures for analysis before any forwarding to the competent authorities.
