Government and Chamber slice text to approve PL of Fake News

Members of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and party leaders in the Chamber will “slice” Bill 2630/2020, known as PL das fake news, to try to facilitate approval in the House. Sources linked to the PT administration said that meetings were held over the period of the parliamentary recess with sectors involved in the regulation of social networks, such as representatives of big techsto sew an understanding that allows the analysis of the matter.

The project has been under way on an urgent basis since the end of April, which allows it to be voted directly by the plenary of the Chamber, but in May there was a setback in the process due to the mobilization against the text and the lack of agreement among the parliamentarians.

Some sectors of the Chamber, mainly linked to the opposition, believe that the regulation of social networks, as stated in the original text reported by Deputy Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), would be a form of censorship of the content of publications.

In addition, the proposal encounters resistance because it deals with a body that would be responsible for monitoring the big techs. This point should be decided by the College of Leaders, according to the rapporteur. Anatel, which already works with telecommunications, was considered, but should not be nominated for this role.

One way out mentioned would be to leave the regulation of the networks in charge of an autonomous entity, according to a proposal made by the Brazilian Bar Association of the Federal District, and which would work in the same way as Conar – responsible for the regulation of advertising, with self-regulation.

In this case, the inspection and monitoring of this body would be the responsibility of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), according to Orlando Silva and sources linked to the Executive. And this should be another point of intense debate, since the CGU is the body responsible for the internal inspection of the federal government.

On its official website, the CGU informs that among its functions are the “defense of public assets and increased transparency in management, through internal control actions, public audit, correction, ombudsman and prevention and fight against corruption. The CGU also exercises, as a central body, the technical supervision of the bodies that make up the Internal Control System, the Correction System (Siscor), the Ombudsman System (SisOuv) and the Public Integrity System (Sipef) of the federal Executive Branch, providing the necessary normative guidance”.

Leaders discuss changes to facilitate approval

Orlando Silva stated that this week, after this negotiation, he will be able to present a new opinion on the project. Meanwhile, leaders and the rapporteur for the copyright bill, Deputy Elmar Nascimento (União-BA), meet with artists, also interested in the issue, to try to finalize a text that can go to plenary.

Elmar Nascimento and the leaders of the Chamber met this Tuesday at the Official Residence of the Presidency of the Chamber to discuss the strategies for voting on the regulation of networks. According to the press office, Nascimento intended to present a text to guide the matter this Wednesday (9).

The control of the networks faces resistance mainly from the opposition and from sectors that criticize what they call content control or censorship.

Centrão parties were initially against the project, but, with the allotment of positions in Lula’s mini-ministerial reform, they may change their minds.

Behind the scenes of the Chamber, although negotiations are running at full speed, some believe that the discussion of the matter will only move forward after the changes are announced at the Esplanada dos Ministérios.

Dino took advantage of the recess to deal with the regulation of networks

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino – who at the beginning of the year went so far as to say that he could suspend companies that did not take responsibility for publications with hate speech and considered the possibility of them being banned from Brazil -, had to lower his tone and negotiate with to the big techsto try to arrive at a text that would be “good for all sides”.

In the ongoing agreements, according to Orlando Silva, the idea is to adjust the Copyright Law (Law 9.610/98) to include digital platforms and introduce a remuneration mechanism for journalistic content. This point was also discussed between Silva and Arthur Lira (PP-AL) this week to try to win another “controversial” item of the project. “The remuneration of journalistic content was a fact of tension and an obstacle to the processing of the proposal”, admitted Silva.