São Paulo Public Prosecutor Files Lawsuit Against Influencer Leonardo Marcondes Over Anti‑Poor Voting Remarks

The São Paulo State Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP‑SP) filed a civil public action against digital influencer Leonardo Marcondes, known as Léo Marcondes, for aporophobic statements that the poor should not have the right to vote. The case stems from a video posted on Instagram on 26 December 2025 in which Marcondes claimed that people living in poverty lack the capacity to make political decisions and that voting should be limited to the wealthy.

The prosecutors request that a court order the removal of the video, delete Marcondes’ Instagram profile (which has more than 1.4 million followers), preserve the account’s data as evidence, and prohibit any future publications with similar discriminatory content. They also seek a collective moral‑damage award of R$ 300,000 to be paid to the State Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Interests and require Marcondes to attend a one‑year inclusion‑sociality course. Meta, the owner of Instagram, is named as a co‑defendant. The MP argues that the influencer’s remarks exceed the limits of freedom of expression and violate constitutional guarantees of universal suffrage and equality. Marcondes, who describes himself as a financial trainer and former professional volleyball player, has not yet been served with the complaint.