Government, Congress and Public Ministry react to Telegram – 09/05/2023 – Power

Members of the Lula government (PT), the National Congress and the Public Ministry reacted to the message released by Telegram to its users against the Fake News PL, which is pending in the Chamber of Deputies.

In the text sent to platform users this Tuesday afternoon (9), Telegram distorts the content of PL 2630, states that “Brazil is about to pass a law that will end freedom of expression” and says that it would give the government censorship power.

Minister Paulo Pimenta, from Secom (Secretary of Social Communication), criticized the company and said that it “disrespects Brazilian laws and uses its platform to advertise falsely against PL2630.” “Legal measures will be taken. No foreign company is greater than our country’s sovereignty.”

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in São Paulo issued an official letter to Telegram’s legal representative with questions about sending the message. The deadline for a response is ten days, the questions were asked within an ongoing civil inquiry at the agency about the performance of the platforms.

The Fake News PL rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), said that Telegram abuses its power in the messaging services market to spread lies and attack Parliament.

“The attempt to bring the Brazilian Parliament to its knees is unacceptable,” he said. “The abuse of economic power is unacceptable.”

Shortly before, the deputy had spoken to the plenary and said that “Telegram never participated in any debate in this House because it was not interested in contributing to the legitimate discussions that Parliament had”. He stated that he will encourage the Judiciary and the Executive to respond to the company’s attack.

Leader of the government in Congress, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP) criticized the platforms and claimed that they use their reach to act against the public interest. “Today, Telegram presented us with a clear attempt to interfere in the democratic debate and a clear demonstration of abuse of power. These abuses make it clear why regulation is necessary.”

Deputy Alencar Santana (PT-SP) called the company’s decision absurd. “This is serious, it is serious. It deserves action by those who control it, whether it be the Executive Branch, the Judiciary in the processes that are being processed there about it, because it is an abuse, it is an invasion of privacy, of the person’s intimacy and of pressure undue policy on this Parliament and on the user.”

Felipe Francischini (União Brasil-PR) also considered Telegram’s action serious. “I am against the current text of fake news, I think the text has to change a little more, but it is a fact that we have to approve something”, he said.

“Other countries in the world, countries have already approved legislation in this regard and Telegram cannot send messages to users with political connotation, even if it is in favor of what I think, against this current text of fake news. But it is absurd what Telegram or other companies that start doing this.”

In Brazil, Telegram has already been blocked for failing to comply with court decisions. At the end of April, the platform went offline following a decision by the Federal Court in Espírito Santo, following a request by the Federal Police in investigations involving attacks on schools.

“The facts demonstrated by the police authority reveal Telegram’s obvious purpose of not cooperating with the ongoing investigation”, said the 1st Federal Court of Linhares (ES) in an excerpt from the decision of this Tuesday night (25).

In March last year, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), accepted a request from the Federal Police and determined that platforms and internet providers block the operation of Telegram throughout Brazil.

The decision stipulated a daily fine of BRL 100,000 if companies failed to take the necessary steps to suspend use of the application.

At the time, Russian Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, apologized to the Brazilian Judiciary and announced a list of commitments to be adopted by the messaging service, such as checking information and flagging false content. A week later, the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) announced that Telegram had joined the program to combat misinformation in the elections.