Chamber approves urgency regime for voting on Fake News PL

The Chamber of Deputies approved the emergency regime for the Fake News bill on Tuesday night (25). There were 238 votes in favor of urgency and 192 against. With that, the project will not be discussed in the committees and will already be voted on in plenary. It was decided that the analysis of the merits of the matter should take place next Tuesday, May 2nd.

The vote took place after the President of the House, President Arthur Lira (PP-AL), tried to reach an agreement with party leaders during the afternoon. Opposition deputies criticized the emergency regime vote and tried to postpone the vote, but were unsuccessful.

Lira demanded that parliamentarians – from all political spectrums – carry forward what would have been agreed in the afternoon. As there were different understandings of the agreement with regard to voting being nominal or not, Lira decided to vote on the urgency requirement of the Fake News PL and cited the House’s Internal Regulations to establish only the need for a simple majority for approval.

The text was detailed to the leaders by the measure’s rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), during a meeting this afternoon, at the official residence of the President of the Chamber. According to Lira, there was also discussion and removal of sensitive points from the project. The final proposal must be forwarded to the benches by Thursday (27) and must be discussed until next week.

By forwarding the vote in favor of the urgency, the rapporteur defended the need for the proposal to establish the regime of responsibility of the platforms. According to deputies from the governing base, the matter has been debated in Parliament for three years. The bill passed the Senate in 2020.

Deputy Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) said that the project was not debated enough and that it will represent the institution in a form of censorship. The parliamentarian also criticized Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

This Tuesday, Moraes delivered to the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), suggestions to be added to the text of the Bill of Fake News. The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) also presented suggestions that should be incorporated into the project.