Chamber discussing fake news does not affect STF, say ministers – 03/29/2023 – Power

Ministers Dias Toffoli and Luiz Fux, from the STF (Federal Supreme Court), defended that the analysis of the fake news bill in the Chamber of Deputies will not interfere with the judgment of the court that deals with the subject.

The statements were made this Wednesday (29), after two days of public hearing at the STF to discuss the regulation of social networks and internet platforms in court.

Toffoli mentioned that, in Parliament, the non-decision is a decision, but that in the Judiciary there is no such option. The Fake News PL was approved in June 2020 in the Senate and has since been awaiting analysis in the House.

“They [parlamentares] have the right not to want to decide. We here in the Judiciary do not have that right. We have to decide because we have lives, people and parties that are claiming their rights or their alleged rights, and we have to judge and decide,” he said.

Fux, on the other hand, declared that the times of politics and Justice are different and that the latter must respect the chronological order of the processes.

“Eventually, if Parliament regulates the matter, we will also face it in the light of the new law”, he stated.

The hearings dealt with the responsibility of providers of social networks and internet tools for content generated by users, which could result in the flexibility of the Marco Civil da Internet, the main law that regulates the subject in Brazil.

The calls were motivated by two actions of general repercussion (which affect similar cases), reported by the two ministers, which will be judged by the Supreme Court.

The ministers informed that there is still no date set for these actions to enter the Supreme agenda. However, they stated that even members of Parliament have already expressed their views on the importance of this judgment to guide the legislation.

Toffoli said that the hearing was important to bring to court the various views of civil society, operators and parties to the process on the subject.

According to him, from this, ministers will be able, in view of constitutional principles, to analyze the limits, defects or vices that must be improved in Brazilian legislation, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic.

“This will be done in accordance with the protection of privacy, intimacy and honor of all those who work on the internet, or who are victims of some means of accusations”, he said.

He also said that there is a hate campaign against democracy and institutions in Brazil and in the world, and that what is crime and abuse should be discussed.

Fux defended that it was important to have a guardianship on the subject and that the ministers could hear several versions about the accountability of these violations.

“All this will be exposed in my vote and that of Minister Dias Toffoli, and certainly the plenary will have the opportunity to listen to some friends of the court who were here to have a plural vision of the problem and reach a uniform solution”, he declared.

On Tuesday (28), Google and Facebook denied failure to act in the fight against illegal content and misinformation and in the removal of publications that violate the platforms’ policies.

The demonstrations were made after ministers of the Supreme and the federal government returned to defend the regulation of social networks and internet platforms.

Toffoli pointed out that self-regulation by platforms is also welcome, just as it exists in the area of ​​advertising. He said that this could avoid several discussions that reach the Judiciary, which would only deal with exceptions.

“Today we have the problem of predatory, incessant judicialization, which overwhelms the courts. So self-regulation is a good filter in this regard,” added Fux.

The rapporteur for the fake news bill, Deputy Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP) mentioned, on the last 13th, the need to include in the new internet legislation a regulatory body that acts in parallel with the self-regulation of platforms, in what is known as regulated self-regulation or co-regulation.

With this, companies would be in charge of designing their policies and rules and applying them, but would be subject to the supervision of a regulatory body.

In the current text of PL (bill) 2630, known as PL das Fake News, there is no regulatory body, and the government resisted proposing the creation of this instance fearing that it could be labeled a “ministry of truth” and make approval difficult of the proposals.

However, the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, admitted the need to create a regulatory agency in the legislation to monitor compliance with the new rules.