Lira defends balance when talking about networks and democracy – 03/13/2023 – Politics

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said this Monday (13) that it is necessary to find a “middle way” in the debate on freedom of expression, social networks and democracy in Brazil.

“It is necessary to find the middle way to manage, legislate and judge issues involving freedom of expression, social networks and democracy”, he said. The speech took place at the opening of an event on the subject at FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas), in Rio de Janeiro.

At the beginning of his speech, the president of the Chamber stated that social networks are vehicles of freedom of expression and democracy, because Brazilians began to freely express their views, ideologies and preferences.

However, in Lira’s view, this context also brings risks. In that sense, he said that journalists and parliamentarians “can be silenced with a mere click”.

“It is a muzzled freedom of expression. It will never be democratic, in the same way that attacks on democracy and its institutions will never, ever be legitimate for freedom of expression,” he said.

For the deputy, social networks are part of a context of technological and social inflection. In one of the excerpts of the speech, the deputy even asked for “balance” in judgments and evaluations on the subject.

At that moment, he even mentioned the name of the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Gilmar Mendes, who is also participating in the event.

“In this way, if we have to summarize the need for this new name of Brazilian political and social relations in a single word, that word would undoubtedly be Minister Gilmar, balance”, he stated.

Next, Lira defended professional journalism as a mechanism against misinformation.

After the mayor, one of the authorities who spoke was the general director of the PF (Federal Police), Andrei Augusto Passos Rodrigues. He assessed that hate speech, prejudice and anger manipulate part of society.

In this sense, he criticized events such as the coup attacks that took place in Brasilia in January. He also said that the PF will have a republican role.

“We will act as a republican state police that does not pursue or protect, but acts with rigor.”

The event in Rio addresses issues such as contemporary digital governance from the perspective of the democratic rule of law, data protection, artificial intelligence and its regulations, technology, communication and freedom of expression.

The event is held by the Center for Innovation, Administration and Research of the Judiciary at FGV Knowledge in partnership with Rede Globo and with the support of the IDP (Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research).