Facebook and Twitter took down the accounts of several high-profile supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro following a Supreme Court order, a move that underlines the tricky territory the social media titans are navigating in some of the world's largest jurisdictions.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the removal of 16 Twitter accounts and 12 Facebook accounts on Friday, a decision tied to an ongoing probe into the alleged dissemination of disinformation by supporters of the right-wing Bolsonaro.

Among the purposes of the "fake news" investigation, as it is known in Brazil, is to discover if misinformation and threats against Supreme Court officials are being funded illicitly.

Among the owners of the suspended accounts is Roberto Jefferson, a former congressman and president of the conservative PTB party, as well as businessmen Luciano Hang, Edgar Corona and Oscar Fakhoury, and activist Sara Giromini, widely known as Sarah Winter.

Moraes had ordered the accounts blocked in a separate ruling in May, though the accounts were not removed at the time.

Friday's order, Moraes said, was meant to stop the accounts from "being used as a means of committing possible criminal conduct."

Facebook said in a statement that it "respects the judiciary and complies with valid legal orders." Twitter in a statement said, "Twitter acted strictly to comply with a legal order related to a Supreme Court investigation."

The blocked Twitter accounts themselves, on the pages where their accounts would be, said Friday evening they were suspended "in response to a legal order."

The reaction among Brazil's conservatives was swift.

The PTB party said in a statement that it was surprised by "yet another arbitrary measure" ordered by Moraes, which "impedes the exercise [of Jefferson's] right to liberty of expression and opinion on social media."

Winter, the activist, said she would complain to "international human rights organizations about the serious offense against free speech."

While Bolsonaro did not immediately address the removal of the accounts, he has previously spoken against the inquiry, calling it a grave threat to free speech.

Support for Bolsonaro rises despite impeachment requests and COVID-19

Despite his controversial handling of the country's raging coronavirus crisis and a raft of his potentially law-breaking behaviors, three polls released this week show gains for President Jair Bolsonaro, putting him as favorite to win re-election in 2022 

The far-right leader, who is himself currently infected with the virus, has downplayed the pandemic even as it has exploded in Brazil, the country with the most infections and deaths from COVID-19 anywhere in the world except the United States. He has also been accused of meddling with the federal police to shield his family. So far, 48 impeachment requests have been filed against Bolsonaro in the lower house.

But this week's polls suggest the man dubbed the "Tropical Trump" is weathering the crisis relatively well.

The latest, published July 24 by news magazine Veja, puts the far-right leader comfortably ahead in the first round of the presidential election, with 27.5 to 30.7 per cent of the vote, depending on his opponents.

Bolsonaro would easily win the second round against any opponent, even his popular ex-justice minister turned nemesis, Sergio Moro, or leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the poll found.

A poll published Thursday by news site Poder360 meanwhile put Bolsonaro's approval rating at 43 percent, up from 40 percent two weeks ago.

His disapproval rating fell one point, to 46 per cent, it found.

Poder360 said the president's approval rating was 52 per cent among beneficiaries of the government's monthly coronavirus emergency relief checks of 600 reals (115 U.S. dollars), which aim to help poor Brazilians suffering the economic impact of coronavirus stay-at-home measures.

Bolsonaro is a fierce critic of those measures, arguing the economic pain is worse than the virus itself.

Brazil has registered nearly 2.3 million cases of the new coronavirus and more than 84,000 deaths, and the numbers continue rising rapidly.

Another poll, published Monday by brokerage firm XP Investimentos, put Bolsonaro's approval rating at 30 percent, up from 25 per cent in May.

It put his disapproval rating at 45 per cent, down from 50 per cent in May.