Network regulation advances under pressure from attacks on schools – 04/18/2023 – Power

After an attempt last year to speed up the project that regulates the performance of platforms in the country, the government and Congress are finalizing the last details of a text that should be voted on by the end of this month, amid pressure on social networks motivated by the recent attacks on schools.

The idea is that the rapporteur for the project, Deputy Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), incorporates some of the suggestions sent by the Lula administration (PT) into his opinion.

According to the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the expectation is that the project, dubbed the fake news PL, will be voted on the 26th and 27th of this month.

The latest version with government suggestions was forwarded at the end of March, after the attack on a state school in São Paulo that resulted in the death of a teacher, but before the invasion of a day care center in Blumenau (SC) in which four children were killed .

The text will be finalized in the midst of discussions on how to increase security in schools and prevent further attacks.

This Tuesday (18th), President Lula will hold a meeting with the president of the FNP (National Front of Mayors) to discuss policies to prevent violence in schools.

The meeting will be attended by the vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, the presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and of the Chamber, Arthur Lira and the president of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Rosa Weber, in addition to the attorney-in-fact General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, and governors.

In Congress, the latest version sent by the government includes an entire chapter on the protection of children and adolescents, which requires the adoption of adequate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, data protection and security.

It also prohibits the advertising or boosting of content that defends, promotes or incites hatred, discrimination and intolerance, denies well-documented violent historical facts and contains evidence of crimes against the democratic rule of law and terrorism.

The text also determines that Congress create, within 45 days after the law is sanctioned, a provisional commission to draw up the Code of Conduct to Combat Misinformation, with measures, for example, to prevent the spread of fake news and to ensure demonetization. content that contains misinformation.

Some points defended by the government are contested by parliamentarians, such as the fact of including on-demand musical or audiovisual content platforms in the regulation, which could include streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify.

There are still questions about remuneration for journalistic content, for example, as suggested by the Executive.

The vote takes place in a context where big techs are suffering strong criticism and pressure from the government because of the attacks on schools in Brazil.

In some cases, the companies’ privacy policy clashed with the Executive’s demands, which demanded concrete actions to bar content that advocated school violence.

The main target of complaints is Twitter, which initially refused to remove content from profiles appointed by the Ministry of Justice. The company argued that the term of use of the platform allows the disclosure of the material.

The positioning caused discomfort at the folder’s meeting with other big techs. The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, said that the networks’ privacy policy cannot override the laws in force in the country.

People heard by Sheet said Twitter had sent two representatives from Mexico, who represent big tech across Latin America, to the meetings.

People with knowledge of the subjects discussed at the meeting say that the pair did not seem to understand the social and political scenario that Brazil was facing, and communication was flawed in the face of language difficulties faced during the meeting.

After the hearing, Twitter representatives had internal meetings and decided to reposition themselves in the discussions. A first measure was to meet the demands made by the government, in addition to increasing the scope of profiles analyzed for possible disrespect for the rules for using the platform.

Estela Aranha, coordinator of Digital Law at the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, says that the platform’s posture has changed and that the company is more collaborative.

“I checked 100 requests and saw that the company is responding to requests, they started to collaborate. We are in constant dialogue with representatives of the platform”, he said.

Before Twitter made this retreat, the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in São Paulo charged the platform with the measures taken to moderate publications that could configure incitement to violence and attacks in schools.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security created an ordinance on Wednesday (12) that provides for fines of up to R$ 12 million for companies that refuse to follow the new regulation contained in the text.

Dino said that there is no deadline for the norm to go into effect, it should remain until Congress begins to discuss the issue.

Deputy Orlando Silva claims that the ordinance edited by the minister is yet another demonstration of the urgency of the approval of the Fake News PL.