Moraes wants to equate social networks with communication companies

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), said this Monday (13) that social networks can no longer be “no man’s land” and need to follow laws, as well as communication companies.

“Is it possible for a newspaper to publish pedophile ads? It’s not possible. And that doesn’t hurt freedom of expression, but why on the networks, is this possible?”, questioned Moraes during the event “Freedom of Expression, Social Networks and Democracy “, promoted by the Getúlio Vargar Foundation (FGV), in Rio de Janeiro.

And he added: “it is not possible for us to treat social networks as no man’s land, which is a metaverse, where you can practice everything that in real life you cannot. What you can’t do in real life, you couldn’t do cowardly hiding on social media.”

According to Moraes, platforms need stricter regulation and one of the premises would be the “end of anonymity” to avoid “combating misinformation, lies and hate speech that has been taking place on social networks”. He mentioned the need to apply what is “passable in law”.

“We have to change the legal form of accountability for who owns the networks. It is still not possible today for the large platforms to be considered technology companies. They are also communication companies, advertising companies”, reinforced Moraes.

Algorithm and monetization

During his speech at the event, Moraes also criticized the way in which the platform’s algorithm directs certain content without a certain “fact check”. And he considers that the form of monetization also needs to be reviewed.

“There is a need for greater transparency in algorithms and in the monetization of content. If you promote (content), you have to be responsible because you are making money. To direct and promote information, you have to check it. With that, we would give a gigantic leap in quality in changing the business and managerial structure of bigtechs,” he said.

In February, the minister announced the creation of a special commission to create a law that tightens regulations on social networks, in order to curb the dissemination of content that represents threats to democratic institutions. The agenda is also adopted by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), as a reaction to acts of vandalism against the headquarters of the Three Powers on January 8.