PL 2630: Anatel lobbies to regulate big techs – 05/09/2023 – Power

Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) has worked with Congress to convince it that it is in a position to assume the attribution of regulating social networks and supervising big techs.

The agency’s lobby even has an embryonic proposal to create a “superintendence of digital services and rights”, responsible for combating misinformation and hateful and anti-democratic speeches.

The articulation takes place in the midst of resistance on the part of parliamentarians regarding the definition of a figure responsible for overseeing the moderation of content in the Fake News PL.

A Sheet had access to a presentation made by Anatel that has been used in an attempt to convince parliamentarians and people from the sector that the company is the right choice to be a regulator.

In it, there is even a proposal for an organizational chart of the new superintendence that would be created for this purpose.

In a note, Anatel stated that since 2019 it has hired consultants to update the strategic plan and reposition itself in the market, in which needs related to the regulation of the digital ecosystem were identified.

“Anatel regulated the change in the paradigm of Brazilian communications, from analogue to digital […]. Thus, the agency considers itself capable of this debate [do PL das Fake News]if Parliament understands that a State body is necessary to regulate and supervise such activities”, he said.

The impasse surrounding the regulatory agency led the text’s rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP), to initially leave out of his opinion the mention of the possibility of the Executive creating an autonomous supervisory entity.

Then, in an interview with Sheet after postponing the vote on the project, he started to defend that Anatel, despite not being his ideal choice, would be the safest way to carry out the task.

Representatives and the president of Anatel himself, Carlos Baigorri, have been going around the benches to try to convince the deputies that the agency can supervise the platforms.

“The inclusion of attributions related to the regulation of the information transmitted by the platforms could be organically absorbed by the organ chart” of the organ, indicates the presentation distributed to parliamentarians.

Anatel says that it would not even need new hires to carry out the task, just the recomposition of a deficit of 402 servers in its staff. The agency claims to have a “competition under development”, focused on this area, even without having formally received the attribution.

According to the proposed organization chart, a new “superintendence of services and digital rights” would be created, which would be in charge of promoting “freedom of expression and the fight against disinformation, hate speech and anti-democracy”.

Under the oversight umbrella there would be three managements: freedom of expression and access to information; platform social responsibility, and algorithmic transparency.

In addition, it states that the new skills are focused on the user of digital platforms, empowering society in the use of tools to guarantee fundamental rights, education for consumption and protection against arbitrariness.

Anatel’s lobby, however, has found little support on the benches and between platforms, for different reasons.

In the case of parliamentarians, the bad image that part of consumers has with regard to the inspection of services provided by telecommunications operators weighs against the agency.

With reservation, they argue that, if Anatel receives complaints for not performing its current duties satisfactorily, it would be difficult to reconcile the functions with the regulation of digital platforms.

In the sector’s evaluation, there are two faces: on the one hand, they complain about a conflict of interest, due to the fact that the agency also regulates the activity of internet provider companies.

On the other hand, there is the view that a defined entity is better than a vacuum, and that big techs would have enough structure to achieve a good relationship and influence with the company.

In an interview with Sheet on April 28, before the postponement of the vote on the Fake News PL —when the proposal did not provide for how the regulation of the subject would be carried out—, the director of Google in Brazil, Marcelo Lacerda, stated that a vague text would give more room for influence from the government.

“What we need is a definition, an authority based on some principles, independence, technical knowledge, being under judicial scrutiny and having the participation of the sector”, he said, when asked about how the performance of a supervisory agency —and not specifically about Anatel.

The parties also highlight an additional point of concern: possible government interference in the decision to remove content.

Civil society and segments of the left criticize the agency for allegedly being susceptible to the influence of large conglomerates.

“She [a Anatel] has not performed well in the functions it already performs and this could further overload the organization”, says Laura Moraes, director of campaigns at Avaaz. “To function as a decent regulator for social networks, Anatel would need some serious changes like working in close collaboration with CGI [Comitê Gestor da Internet]creating more and more transparency mechanisms and civil society participation”, he adds.

“His vocation to meet the needs of the market would need to be transformed into a profound commitment to defend freedom of expression and democracy.”

In a note, Anatel stated that the new contest would be for “hiring professionals with a complementary profile to the current one” and that “there is a trend verified in the international scenario that the telecommunications regulator incorporates the competences to also discipline the digital markets”.

The agency proposes to use its customer service also for issues related to network regulation.

Although Anatel’s lobbying for new assignments has intensified now, it started even before discussions on the Fake News PL had surfaced.

A project presented at the end of last year by deputy João Maia (PL-RN) tried to expand the agency’s attributions and led its president, Carlos Baigorri, to publicly defend the expansion of the operation.