Barroso demands regulation of big techs and talks about an avenue of lies as a political strategy – 10/26/2023 – Power

Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) and the CNJ (National Council of Justice), defended this Thursday (26) the regulation of digital platforms for “minimum control over what reaches the public space” .

At an event in the Chamber of Deputies, Barroso stated that the internet has revolutionized social communication, enabling access to information without depending exclusively on the professional press. He highlighted, however, that this change favored the proliferation of disinformation for political purposes.

“The internet and digital platforms, in the same way that they democratized access, also opened up avenues for misinformation, hate speech, conspiracy theories, the destruction of reputations, the use of lies as a political strategy”, he said.

“This is the moment we are all living in, in terms of digital platforms, the whole world is thinking about how to minimally regulate digital platforms so that life continues to be sensitized, interfering, however, minimally with freedom of expression, which is a precious value “, he added.

The statements were made during the II Franco-Brazilian Colloquium on Constitutional Law, held this Thursday in the Chamber of Deputies.

This is not the first time that Barroso has given speeches in defense of the regulation of big tech.
In February, the minister participated in a UNESCO conference and defended the accountability of internet platforms before a court order in some specific cases — which, in practice, would be a relaxation of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet.

“In the case of clear criminal behavior, such as child pornography, terrorism and incitement to crime, platforms should have a duty of care to use all possible means to identify and remove this type of content, regardless of (judicial) provocation”, he argued. .

Luís Roberto Barroso assumed the presidency of the STF on September 28th.

The regulation of big techs is one of the priorities defined by the National Congress and encouraged by the STF. The advancement of proposals that deal with the topic, however, has faced resistance from the platforms themselves.

In the first semester, the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), made an agreement with party leaders so that the Fake News PL would have priority on the House’s agenda.

The proposal’s rapporteur, deputy Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), spent four months negotiating with the benches and making adjustments to the text until presenting a final version of the proposal in early May.

Faced with pressure from big techs and the platforms’ coordination with parliamentarians opposing the Lula (PT) government, Lira decided to postpone the vote to avoid a defeat in the Chamber plenary.

The day after the postponement, the president of the Chamber said that big techs acted in an “inhumane” and “lying” way against federal deputies to prevent the vote on the Fake News PL.

“Big techs have exceeded all limits of prudence. If we can compare, it is as if they had prevented the functioning of a power. And, in comparative law, we will look for all means to take action, holding people accountable for the almost horrific act that they practiced in the lives of the deputies in the week of the vote on the matter”, said Lira in an interview with GloboNews.

The president of the Chamber also stated that he received reports from parliamentarians who suffered physical threats through social media.

“Use your instruments to propel, hinder or restrict the other party from moving, and then converge all the means that [as plataformas] hold, with the algorithms that have influence on the states. The pressure was horrible, inhumane and false — that’s the worst thing,” said Lira.

After the vote on the Fake News PL was postponed, the Chamber leaders decided to adopt a new strategy for regulating big techs. Instead of focusing on a large project on the platforms, the deputies decided to dilute the proposals into smaller bills that deal with specific and segmented points.

Despite the change of route, Congress made little progress on the proposals and there is still no forecast for a vote.