Influencer who filmed former president FHC at home is indicted, and 405 public figures sign protest note

This is a translation of the original article in Portuguese. Read the original (Português).

São Paulo’s Civil Police indicted influencer Wesley Oliveira and his husband for defamation and discrimination against an elderly person, after the two posted videos on social media showing a tour of the home of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The information was published by the newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo, Extra and O Povo.

According to Estadão, the two are barred by court order from approaching the residence and from publishing images of the former president. The police seized two cell phones. O Globo reports that search and seizure warrants were executed after the indictment.

The recordings showed FHC in a state of frailty inside the apartment in São Paulo where he lives, according to O Globo. The newspaper reports that the former president’s wife filed a police report on October 23.

Fernando Henrique’s children also went to court. They requested a search and seizure order against Wesley Oliveira, according to Estadão, and the suspension of his social media profiles, according to O Globo.

The two crimes cited by police carry different scopes. Defamation consists of attributing to someone a fact that offends their reputation. Discrimination against an elderly person, on the other hand, is provided for in Brazil’s Elderly Persons Statute, which protects anyone aged 60 or older against humiliating treatment or against having their condition exposed in a disrespectful way.

The case raises an increasingly frequent debate: how far social media content can go, and where the violation of privacy begins. Even public figures retain the right to privacy at home, and exposing someone in a moment of vulnerability, without consent, can lead to civil and criminal liability.

The reaction has been broad. A protest note gathered 405 signatures from former ministers, economists, legal scholars and business leaders, according to Estadão. The text treats the exposure of the former president’s privacy as an affront to human dignity. O Globo notes that the signatories come from diverse fields, showing that the episode mobilized people beyond FHC’s political circle.

With the indictment, the case now goes to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público), which will decide whether to file charges in court. The family’s requests regarding the social media profiles still depend on a judicial decision.

Reporting from O Estado de S. Paulo (p. 5 e p. 8, São Paulo/SP), O Globo (p. 5 e p. 8, São Paulo/SP), Extra (p. 7, São Paulo/SP), O Povo (p. 9, São Paulo/SP).