The Supreme Electoral Court in Brazil ruled that no candidates in the upcoming municipal election can use Twitter (News - Alert) for promotional purposes until the official start of campaigning. July 6 is the official start date of the campaign season.

The ban on tweeting is in response to an appeal filed by a vice presidential candidate back in 2010. According to the Associated Press, the candidate received fines of 5,000 reals, the equivalent of $2,800, for campaigning via Twitter prior to the official start of the campaign season.

This isn’t the first time tweeting was banned during election time. CBC News reported in 2011 that no Canadian citizen could tweet out poll results before the actual closing of the polls. Violating this rule carried fines of up to $25,000 as well as a maximum of five-years in prison. This ban on tweeting has since been reformed.

A similar ban on Twitter and other social networking sites was in effect in South Korea up until a landmark court ruling in December, 2011. The ruling stated that banning Twitter as part of an election campaign is unconstitutional. According to Yonhap News Agency, the old law stated no candidate could distribute promotional materials for 180 days prior to voting and tweeting was included in this ban.

Professional sports teams have even banned tweeting on occasion. For instance, the NBA banned players and coaches from tweeting during the lockout prior to the start of the 2011 season. The NFL banned tweeting during games.

Twitter has only been around since 2006, so it’s still relatively new to the political world. There are sure to be more hurdles for political candidates looking to reach out to the ever-increasing number of people signing up for social networks. It’s just a matter of the courts catching up to the speedy world of technology.