Fake News PL faces impasse and leaves the Chamber’s radar – 06/19/2023 – Politics

Almost two months after the urgent procedure was approved, the Fake News Bill has lost steam and is paralyzed in an impasse between the artistic sector and broadcasting companies, which removed the subject from the radar of votes in the Chamber of Deputies. .

The division and controversy surrounding the project had already led parliamentarians to slice it up in the hope of facilitating approval, but it is precisely at this point that the newest obstacle lies.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), who is one of the main defenders of the proposal, had agreed with party leaders to remove the PL from the points that deal with remuneration, by big techs, artists and music companies. journalism.

These two points were included in another project, reported by deputy Elmar Nascimento (União Brasil-BA), one of Lira’s main allies. The objective was to immediately approve the separate part and then resume the vote on the Fake News PL in its entirety.

The problem is that representatives of the artistic sector and radio and television companies have not reached an agreement, which, until now, has paralyzed the entire strategy put together by Lira and allies, with government support.

According to people involved in the conversations, the artistic class defends the creation of an entity responsible for the collection and distribution of copyrights for the audiovisual sector, similar to ECAD (Central Office of Collection and Distribution) for the music sector.

On the other hand, representatives of radio and TV companies understand that a change in this sense could only be discussed for future situations, considering that existing contracts already include copyright clauses.

When contacted, the Ministry of Culture and the Audiovisual department of the portfolio, which have been dealing with the issue on behalf of the artists, did not respond.

Abert (Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters) only said that “as a representative of the broadcasting sector, it sent its contributions to PL 2370/19”.

The Fake News PL brings, among other points, a series of obligations to social network providers and messaging apps, such as content moderation, the duty to veto inauthentic accounts and to produce periodic transparency reports, with a forecast of punishment in case of non-compliance.

Pressured to act after the coup acts on January 8 and the attacks on schools, the allied base of the Lula government (PT) managed to accelerate the project with the support of Lira and members of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), but there was strong opposition of big techs and parliamentarians linked to Jair Bolsonaro (PL). As a result, the attempted vote was postponed for fear of defeat.

Currently, party leaders have told the Sheet that the theme lost strength and left the voting radar, not least because there was no consensus even on the part that would be voted on first. It also weighs against the fact that Lula has not been able, until now, to assemble a minimally solid base of support in the Chamber.

The rapporteur for the Fake News PL, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), stated that he will replace the two points that were removed in his text, if there is no agreement between artists and communication companies.

“If an agreement is not reached by this week, I will publish a new opinion next week, maintaining these issues in the terms we had agreed and with adjustments in other points”, said Orlando.

“Then I give the ball back to President Arthur Lira, who will decide when the vote will take place. From a political point of view, even though this issue is not strictly in the interest of the government, a better organized base of the government is convenient to go to the vote.”

The judgment on the civil liability of big techs in the STF also remains without prediction. Members of the court do not rule out that it will only take place in the second half of the year, on the return of the recess of the Judiciary.

The definition of the agenda is a prerogative of the president of the court, Minister Rosa Weber. The magistrate remains at the head of the court until October.

Weber even scheduled the actions to be analyzed last month, but the vote was postponed because of the trial that lasted for days and led to ex-president Fernando Collor being convicted in Operation Lava Jato.

One of the processes, under the rapporteurship of Minister Dias Toffoli, addresses the constitutionality of article 19 of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, sanctioned in 2014 by then-President Dilma Rousseff (PT).

This article states that a platform will only be civilly liable for content published by its users if it fails to comply with a court order to remove the content.

The stock faces resistance from big tech and annoyance from Congress. The judgment generates pressure for the Legislature to anticipate and prevent the STF from legislating through a judicial decision.