According to Malu Gaspar’s column in the newspaper O Globo, the government is considering entering a request in the actions on the Civil Framework of the Internet being judged in the plenary session of the Supreme Court.
Meta’s rule change makes the guidelines on hate speech more flexible and allows users to associate sexual orientation or gender identity with mental illness, for example.
The Attorney General’s Office of the Union sent an extrajudicial notification to Meta last week and asked for explanations about the changes in the regulations and the end of the fact-checking program on the platforms. The agency stated that large technology companies must “assume their responsibilities with the entire information environment.”
According to the response from Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, the end of the verification program and the implementation of the “Community Notes” tool will initially apply in the United States. He also noted that he is looking for the ideal balance between freedom of expression and security. “We hope that misinformation will be improved by empowering our users, who will decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context, reducing the risk of bias in content moderation decisions,” Zuckerberg stated.
The newspaper Gazeta do Povo reported that digital law experts expect a more political than legal battle between Meta and the Brazilian Judiciary in the coming years regarding freedom of expression. It noted that the first effects can be felt in the discussion on article 19 of the Civil Framework of the Internet, currently in the STF.
“They will measure power. As Zuckerberg has signaled the break with a certain ideology in Brazil and allied himself with another ideology, seeking strength in the United States, the Judiciary tends to walk on eggshells eggs lest it suffers some kind of retaliation,” said the lawyer specializing in Digital Law Fernando Brizola, who predicted that the Judiciary would then suffer some pressure from the United States Government so that “Brazil does an internal review of how it acts against social networks and seeks a certain balance.”
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