Atlas Network Podcast host Michael Carnuccio interviews Jamil Assis of Instituto Sivis about what he calls a “free speech recession” in Brazil, citing harsher punishment for “crimes against the honor” of public authorities, proposed online-safety reforms that leave vague “fake news” and “hate speech” enforcement openings, and a long-running Supreme Court “fake news inquiry” involving secret investigations, passport seizures, and frozen bank accounts. Assis describes a “vicious cycle” where election-time speech restrictions create precedents that expand year-round and are reinforced by importing foreign regulations. He outlines Instituto Sivis’s four-step strategy: identify vague legal points, promote pro-free-speech interpretations with electoral judges, monitor decisions and collect data, and deliver evidence-based reforms to the next legislature. He discusses winning a $65,000 Smart Bets grant to fund legal and tech expertise (including AI-driven judicial data analysis), emphasizes pluralistic cross-ideological collaboration, argues against sanitizing debate by pushing bad ideas underground, and previews competing again at Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner in New York.

Support freedom worldwide: https://www.AtlasNetwork.org

Show Notes / Timestamps

00:00 Sunlight and Censorship

00:33 Brazil’s Free Speech Recession

03:58 Vague Laws and Elections

06:01 Global Ripple Effects

09:31 Vicious Cycle of Fear

13:30 Four Step Reform Plan

16:40 Smart Bets Win

19:02 Grant Funding in Action

22:15 Answering the Critics

26:56 Building Cross Spectrum Allies

32:41 Atlas Network Support

35:09 Why Donors Matter

38:47 If We Win Again

41:20 Brazil Food and Travel

43:56 Personal Motivation and Closing