PGR asks to archive investigation against Google and Telegram – 03/18/2024 – Power

The PGR (Attorney General’s Office) asked Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), to close a criminal investigation against the directors of Google and Telegram in Brazil who participated in the campaign against the Fake Law Project News.

This inquiry was opened following a request from the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

The reasons were a link provided by Google whose title was “the fake news PL can increase confusion about what is true or false in Brazil” and also a message sent by Telegram which stated that a law would be passed that “will put an end to freedom of expression”.

Suspicions of conduct were investigated, such as attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, misleading advertising and qualified abusive advertising, in addition to abuse of economic power and against consumer relations.

It is common that, after the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the magistrate orders the closure of a criminal investigation.

According to the PGR, after concluding the investigation, the agency found no evidence to justify the initiation of criminal proceedings.

“The analysis of what was collected during the criminal investigation denotes the absence of just cause for the filing of criminal action”, says the request to Moraes, signed by the Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Hindemburgo Chateaubriand.

“The propagation of a position contrary to the legislative proposal, even if marked by the intention of privileging self-interest, does not demonstrate the intention of abolishing the democratic regime or hindering the regular exercise of constitutional powers”, says the PGR when stating that it does not see a crime of attempt of abolition of the democratic rule of law.

The body also assessed that there were no criminal offenses related to consumer relations.

“[Esses ilícitos pressupõem] abuse and deceit necessarily related to goods, products and services sold by the advertiser”, says the PGR.

“Even if we consider the knowledge of those investigated about the misleading nature of the statements propagated regarding the consequences of the approval of Bill No. 2,630/2020, it is inevitable to recognize the absence of falsification of the characteristics of goods, products or services advertised by them” , he adds.

In the statement, the deputy PGR says that, despite having requested the archiving in relation to the criminal investigation, the evidence can still be used in civil or administrative actions.

Google’s lawyer, Pierpaolo Bottini, states that the request for archiving “is the result of the finding that the company merely expressed its opinion regarding the bill, without any disrespect to the Legislature.”

“There was never any intention to obstruct the discussion of democracy, just to suggest improvements to the proposal under debate”, he says. The report did not locate Telegram’s defense.

Last year, when requesting the investigation, Lira argued to the PGR that the platforms encourage “their users to pressure congressmen” and promote a “disinformation campaign”.

This led, he said, to “a considerable overload on the IT services of the Chamber of Deputies, with instability occurring in the portal and in the main systems supporting legislative work.”