By Camilo Diniz
Edson Fachin, president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's highest court, intends to shut down the so-called fake news inquiry immediately once he receives the formal opinion of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR). The investigation was Justice Alexandre de Moraes' most feared tool for seven and a half years. In practice, it is the end of the instrument that made Moraes the most powerful, and most criticized, justice in the court's recent history.
What is the 'end of the world' inquiry?
Inquiry 4,781 was opened on March 14, 2019, on the court's own initiative, by then STF president Dias Toffoli. There was no request from prosecutors, and the case was handed to Moraes without the usual random draw. It was created to look into attacks on the honor and safety of the justices and their relatives, but it grew without limit: over the years, more than 300 secret investigations passed through it.
Journalists, lawmakers, businesspeople, pastors and ordinary citizens were targeted with searches, profile blocks, fines and even arrests. Through the legal principle of 'prevention,' the same inquiry also made Moraes the rapporteur of the criminal case that convicted Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022. Moraes still oversees the execution of that sentence.
Critics, including some inside the Supreme Court itself, have long pointed to the central problem: the victim, the investigator and the judge were the same institution.
How Moraes lost control of the inquiry
The turning point came on September 1, 2026, when Justice André Mendonça lifted the secrecy on a Federal Police (PF) report containing messages between Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master. Moraes reacted by using the inquiry itself to try to investigate Mendonça. That was the last straw.
On September 9, Fachin issued an administrative order removing Moraes as rapporteur of the inquiry. New facts now go to the court's Presidency, and any procedure involving STF justices now requires the president's approval. The PGR also rejected the attempt to include Mendonça as a target.
Fachin's string of case closures
Since then, Fachin has been dismantling the inquiry piece by piece. In October, he formally announced that he intends to "promover o arquivamento definitivo do inquérito" ("promote the definitive closure of the inquiry"). On October 29, he shelved five investigations at once, including those targeting former minister Gilson Machado and state deputy Alex Brasil of the Liberal Party (PL) in Santa Catarina state.
The probes into Eduardo Bolsonaro, Silas Malafaia and journalist Guilherme Fiuza were also dropped. In one case, Fachin revoked the pretrial detention of a Brazilian woman living in the United States who was being investigated over a single 2023 social media post. The PGR itself considered the evidence weak.
What happens next
According to behind-the-scenes accounts, Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet is expected to deliver an opinion in favor of closing the inquiry, arguing that it has fulfilled its purpose and that there are no new facts to investigate. With that document in hand, Fachin would close the 'parent' inquiry. The stated goal is to wrap everything up in 2026.
There is an important caveat: the decisions Moraes made since 2019 will stand, as will the criminal cases in which an indictment has already been accepted. The roughly 100 derived proceedings that remain will be reviewed one by one and sent to the PGR, which will decide between filing charges or closing them.
VDD Analysis
The end of the fake news inquiry does not erase the damage of seven and a half years of endless investigations, secrecy and censorship of social media profiles. But it is a huge symbolic defeat for Alexandre de Moraes. The man who got used to being investigator, accuser and judge all at once loses the tool that sustained his power, and the person taking it out of his hands is the president of the Supreme Court himself. For millions of Brazilians who were silenced during this period, the remaining question is a different one: who will answer for the abuses?
