Evangelical bench tries to change Fake News PL – 04/27/2023 – Politics

The evangelical bench in the Chamber of Deputies wants to include in the Fake News bill a guarantee that content posted by these religious people and their faithful is not taken down by platforms because they are considered offensive to the LGBTQIA+ population.

Evangelical leaders met this Wednesday (26) with the project’s rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), to negotiate a way to insert the device in the text.

At the same time, they articulate with the opposition a maneuver to block this proposal and put in its place another one, by Deputy Mendonça Filho (União Brasil-PE), filed last Tuesday (25) and which is seen as more aligned with the interests of the bench.

They assess that the absence of mention of religious freedom in the text poses a serious risk to the dissemination of their beliefs on social networks, by making the platforms “co-responsible” for user posts and opening a loophole for them to remove content considered intolerant by some social segment.

Privately, deputies from the evangelical bench cite, for example, excerpts from the book Genesis, from the Bible, which mention the creation of man and woman and say that they must reproduce.

The speech is often used by religious leaders —not just evangelicals— to reject the possibility of same-sex relationships.

The fear of parliamentarians is that demonstrations on social networks quoting excerpts and statements from the Bible may be denounced and removed from the air by the platforms, in view of the fear of the application of sanctions provided for in the project reported by Orlando Silva.

In the last version of the text, there is only a generic mention of the religious issue.

“The prohibitions and conditions provided for in this Law shall not imply a restriction on the free development of the individual personality, on free expression and on artistic, intellectual, satirical, religious, political, fictional, literary or any other form of cultural manifestation, under the terms of the articles 5 and 220 of the Federal Constitution”, states the report.

The document, however, is not yet in its final version and will undergo changes before being placed in plenary.

The segment also raises doubts about the performance of the autonomous regulatory entity, which, it assesses, could bar religious content.

If the claim is not accepted by the rapporteur, the bench articulates for the project to be rejected on Tuesday (2), when a vote on the merits is scheduled in plenary.

Parties like the Republicans, linked to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, are considering taking a stand against the text, dehydrating a good part of the votes that allowed the approval of the urgency last Tuesday (25). Of the 238 votes in favor of the application, 28 came from the party.

The evangelical bench is historically opposed to the criminalization of homophobia and has barred all actions in this regard in Congress. The assimilation of the act to the crime of racism only occurred by decision of the STF (Federal Supreme Court).

In place of the project reported by Orlando Silva, the bench wants to vote on the text by Deputy Mendonça Filho (União Brasil-PE), filed last Tuesday as an alternative to the proposal supported by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The project creates the framework for digital platforms to guarantee freedom, responsibility and transparency on the internet, in addition to ensuring the rights of internet users, “including integral and priority protection of children and adolescents.”

The text, also supported by the opposition, explains that the prohibitions and conditions will not imply “any restriction on freedom of religion or belief, ensuring that all users are guaranteed their freedom to express their religious beliefs.”

Mendonça Filho’s proposal is based on the “protection of the fundamental rights of freedom of thought, expression, press, privacy and access to information”, in line with the narrative of opposition deputies, who claim that the opinion of Orlando Silva is moving towards restricting these points — something the rapporteur denies.

In the session in which the urgency was approved, Orlando Silva defended the need for a rule to guarantee freedom of expression for everyone on the internet. “Freedom of expression is strengthened with the definition of a process in which the user himself can contest when he feels harmed.”

To ensure the vote on Mendonça Filho’s text, opposition deputies intend to submit a request for the Union Brazil parliamentarian’s project to be voted on in preference to Orlando Silva’s.

In addition to rejecting a project they consider bad, the intention is to impose a defeat on the Lula government, which is still trying to consolidate a base in Congress.

This Wednesday, the rapporteur went through benches to negotiate adjustments to his text, in particular one of the criticized points, the creation of an autonomous entity of social networks.

The opinion is expected to be finalized this Thursday (27), to allow time for the last negotiations to take place before voting on the merits.

The tight score of urgency, however, makes parliamentarians assess that the vote could be postponed, given the risk of a defeat of the text.

They recall that some who voted in favor of urgency would not necessarily approve the merits of the proposal. In addition, the voting quorum was considered low —431 out of 513 deputies—, increasing the danger of negative surprises for the government.