Fake News: big techs refuse to respond about campaign – 06/14/2023 – Politics

The hearing in the Chamber of Deputies for big techs to respond to questions about the campaign made by them against the Fake News PL, scheduled for this Wednesday (14), ended up postponed due to lack of attendance from the platforms.

Google, Telegram, Twitter, Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) and Spotify were called to provide clarification to the Consumer Protection Commission on actions against the network regulation project. The initiative was taken by Deputy Ivan Valente (PSOL-SP).

The first three companies did not even respond to the invitation. Meta said it could not send a representative because it already had commitments on the date and Spotify said it would only attend if the other big techs were too.

“We would like to convey that we believe it is appropriate to do so only if the main parties involved in the hearing, namely Google and Meta, are also present,” Spotify said in a document submitted to the Chamber.

According to members of the commission, the lack of response is a rare case even when financial institutions or companies that tend to have little public information about their respective operations are invited to participate.

In the invitation, sent by Ivan Valente, the option was given for representatives of big techs to participate virtually.

A Sheet sought advisory services from Meta, Spotify, Telegram and Twitter. The first said it will not comment on the matter and the others did not return.

Google, however, did not answer the reason for not having responded to the invitation to this Wednesday’s hearing. “We were informed of the rescheduling of the hearing, but we still haven’t received the invitation for the new date”, he said.

With Congress pressured to act after the coup acts of January 8 and the attacks on schools, the Chamber of Deputies accelerated the processing of the Fake News project and approved, on April 25, the project’s urgency regime.

The merit of the proposal was scheduled for a vote in early May, but the rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), asked that it be removed from the agenda due to the risk of defeat in plenary. Since then, the issue has lost traction in the Chamber.

Resistance to the proposal was led by big techs, Bolsonarists and the evangelical bench in Congress.

In the days when the Fake News PL was under debate and about to be voted on in the House, Google placed a link on its search homepage that led to an article –from the platform’s own website– against the bill. Telegram, on the other hand, sent messages to its users also opposing the proposal.

Orlando Silva accused the big technology companies of playing a dirty game to try to hinder the approval of the proposal.

“We had, in parallel, a dirty action by the big techs. I’ve never seen so much dirt in a political dispute. Why does Google, for example, use its majority strength in the market to broaden the range of positions of those who are against the project and decrease the reach of those who are in favor”, said Orlando, in early May.

The Consumer Protection Committee approved the request for a public hearing on May 10.

Invitations to big techs were sent on May 30th — with the exception of the official letter sent to Twitter, which took place on June 1st.

Meta and Spotify, the only ones to come forward, responded on June 12 — two days before the meeting date.

The hearing was rescheduled for the second week of July, according to deputies.

“Let’s give it one more chance or try to get the Chamber to take some measure or the Judiciary. Depending on the new response, we’ll see the possible institutional measures”, said Ivan Valente.

“To lobby, they meet in a closed room. Now, to be questioned publicly, in an audience, in a commission, debating with people who think the opposite. who are running away,” he added.