In a forum, Brazilians defend the regulation of social networks

The Brazilians who participated in the Unesco world forum, an event that discussed the regulation of social networks and the fight against disinformation, defended the increase of state control over speech on the internet as a way of protecting democracy.

The event, which took place in Paris between Tuesday (21st) and Thursday (23rd), was attended by President Lula (PT), Federal Supreme Court (STF) Minister Luís Roberto Barroso and digital influencer Felipe Neto. Also present were Demi Getschko, CEO of the Ponto BR Information and Coordination Center, and the journalist from Folha de S. Paulo Patrícia Campos Mello, who participated as a mediator in one of the panels.

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The debate on the regulation of social networks is a demand spearheaded especially by the left in an attempt to restrict not only publications that it considers uninformative, but also to exclude the authors of this content from the platforms. With that, there is the questioning about the limits of this regulation so that the measure is not used as a means of censoring political opponents. All Brazilians participating in the Unesco forum are on the left, which undermines a more balanced debate.

Lula does not attend the event, but sends letter supporting regulation

President Lula, a longtime supporter of regulation of mass media and, more recently, social media, was unable to attend the event in person, but sent a letter. In the text, he argued that social media platforms must ensure the “strengthening of democracy” through regulation. The president used acts of vandalism by supporters of Jair Bolsonaro on January 8 to endorse the position in favor of greater state control over internet speech.

“This campaign was conceived, organized and disseminated through various digital platforms and messaging applications”, he said. The PT also said that Brazil could contribute to the construction of “a fairer and more balanced digital environment, based on transparent and democratic governance structures”.

Before being re-elected president, Lula said on several occasions that one of the priorities of his administration would be precisely to approve a media regulation project. Right at the beginning of the current mandate, the PT created the ‘Ministry of Truth’ – as the new Union bodies created under the allegation of defending democracy and freedom of expression have been called.

The decrees that established the National Prosecutor’s Office for the Defense of Democracy and the Department for the Promotion of Freedom of Expression are vague regarding the attributions of these two bodies. Depending on the content of media regulation that the PT intends to advance, there is a risk that they may serve as vehicles for censorship instituted by the State.

For Felipe Neto, regulation is not censorship

Digital influencer Felipe Neto, who supports leftist agendas and was a strong supporter of Lula in the presidential election campaign, defended, at the Unesco event, not only the regulation of networks, but also the accountability of platforms for published content. According to him, companies profit from radicalization.

In an interview with RFI, the influencer said that the far right created the narrative that greater state control over what is published on the internet would consist of censorship, which he classified as a “conspiracy theory”. “As much as the extreme right creates this narrative that regulating is censoring, we are seeing the opposite here. Other countries don’t even touch on this subject, everyone is united to talk about regulation as an adult and not as a conspiracy theory”.

“The extreme right is trying to create a pejorative tone for the term regulation. They think that regulating means prohibiting, it means censoring. It’s nothing like that. The Constitution is a kind of regulation. You create a series of rules that will have its responsibilities, their rights, their duties”, he said.

Neto went so far as to state that, currently, there is nothing that guarantees digital rights in Brazil. However, Brazilian legislation has the Marco Civil da Internet (Law No. 12,965, of April 23, 2014), which provides an extensive approach to principles, guarantees, rights and duties of those who use the internet. The Penal Code, which provides for crimes of threat and against honor, for example, also covers crimes committed in the digital environment.

When addressing a sensitive topic, which is responsible for determining what is true and false among the contents published on social networks, the influencer said that the decision must be taken “after debates”. “We now have to debate, talk and through dialogue, through moderation, we will be able to arrive at these answers”, he declared.

Despite claiming that the risk of censoring content with divergent political alignment would be a “conspiracy theory” from the right, Neto’s position regarding opponents is subjective. This Thursday (23), the influencer said, in Twitter postthat “intolerance towards genocide is not hatred, it is resistance”.

“Genocides” is the term he often uses to refer to supporters of Jair Bolsonaro. In practice, according to his analysis, if hate speech is committed against people he considers “extreme right” it would not be framed as a crime, but as “resistance”.

Barroso cites the risk of censorship and says that disinformation is “the war of good against evil”

In his participation in the forum, Minister Barroso, despite being an enthusiast of the regulation of social networks, even mentioned the risks of censorship that the measure could embody – contrary to Felipe Neto, who said that such risks were not even being discussed. The minister defended a balance “so that the necessary protection of freedom of expression against the evils of disinformation and hatred does not open the way for censorship”.

Barroso also stated that the fight against disinformation is a war “of good against evil” and that it is necessary that “good” is not authoritarianism and that “evil” is not disguised as freedom of expression.

“Basically, we are facing a war of truth against lies, truth against discredit, good against evil. The biggest problem is that evil sometimes disguises itself as good by pretending to be free speech. And good risks being perverted if it is turned into arbitrariness, ”he said.

Despite the minister’s speech, what has been seen in recent decisions by the Judiciary is a judicial authoritarianism, which had the high point of the 2022 election period. Several supporters of Bolsonaro’s candidacy suffered censorship, with removal of content and blocking of accounts. In general, the reasons for the suspension of the accounts were not informed and the lawyers did not have access to the files.

Barroso also said that the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet should be amended to accommodate the big techs for illegal content. He pointed out that platforms must act on their own in cases of illegal posts or content that violates the Law on Crimes against the Democratic State of Law, even before a court order.

“In the case of clear criminal behavior such as child pornography, terrorism and incitement to crime, platforms should have a duty of care to use all possible means to identify and remove this type of content, regardless of (judicial) provocation,” he said. the minister.

The tone of the Brazilian Judiciary leadership regarding the regulation of the media appears to be, in fact, the equating of subjective concepts such as disinformation and hate speech with serious crimes. Recently, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who coordinates a commission at the TSE to propose measures to Congress to regulate social networks, went so far as to say that it is necessary for social networks to treat misinformation, hate speech and attacks on democracy with the same rigor as dealing with crimes such as pedophilia and racism.

Guests will be part of a group, in the Lula government, to combat “hate speech”

Some of those invited to the Unesco event will also be part of the working group with the alleged objective of combating “hate speech and extremism”, which was announced by the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC), this Wednesday. (22).

The team, to be led by former federal deputy Manuela d’Ávila (PCdoB-RS), includes Felipe Neto and journalist Patrícia Campos Mello, who was also at the forum in Paris. Although the alleged objective for the creation of the group is the defense of democracy, just as in the Unesco forum there is no diversity of thought, and the left-wing political position among the members is dominant.