MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Operation Safe Schools targets 270 Twitter accounts

Operation Safe School is coordinated by the Justice Ministry in partnership with State and other federal agencies

Brazil's Justice Ministry (MJSP) requested the deletion of 270 Twitter accounts conveying hashtags related to attacks against schools nationwide, Agencia Brasil reported Sunday.

The news service also explained that hashtags are keywords or terms associated with any information or discussion that one wishes to index explicitly in applications such as Twitter and Facebook, preceded by the symbol (#).

According to the MJSP, both content and authors are under investigation, and search warrants were also served, resulting in the seizure of seven weapons. A suspect was arrested. Authorities also requested the Tik Tok platform remove two accounts that were transmitting content that incited fear in families.

The Integrated Operations and Intelligence Directorate of the National Public Security Secretariat identified more than 80 profiles that had their links removed, due to the violation of the platform's policy. The content of these links was preserved at the request of the Ministry of Justice to allow further investigations. Several preventive and repressive actions were taken against attacks in schools all over Brazil, among them the search for profiles on social networks with posts related to crimes against life and hate speech.

Cybercrime police stations in the main Brazilian regions also monitored internet threats related to possible attacks. The data is being analyzed by the ministry's Cyber Operations Laboratory (Ciberlab), which will be exclusively dedicated to this work over the next few days, on a 24-hour shift basis. Any citizen can report threats related to the safety of schools and students on the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety's website.

The exclusive channel to receive information about suspected cases of attacks on educational institutions was created by the ministry, in partnership with SaferNet Brazil. This private civil association works to promote human rights on the Internet and, since 2006, has offered an online platform for reporting illegal or harmful content on the network. The organization acts as a direct channel between internet users and the authorities, offering a safe and confidential environment for sending complaints.

In the actions that make up Operation Safe School, organized by MJSP in partnership with the states, 51 heads of investigative police stations and 89 heads of Public Security intelligence agencies (Civil Police and Military Police) are working in an integrated manner. The operation will be in effect for an indefinite period of time, continuously and around the clock.

Since last Wednesday's episode in a school in Blumenau (SC), in which four children died and at least five were injured, the MJSP's Cyber Operations Laboratory has supported the Interministerial Working Group in gathering information about possible threats to schools, by monitoring social networks. Representatives of the area participated in the first meeting of the WG held on Thursday at the Ministry of Education (MEC).

The Ciberlab has a team specialized in information technology, which uses advanced investigation techniques to trace the origin of cybercrimes and identify those responsible. Based on the growing cases of violence in schools in Brazil, Ciberlab has also acted in preventive actions against Brazilian schools and daycare centers, producing reports that are forwarded to state police forces all over the country.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)