PL 2630: Rosa marks judgment at STF after impasse – 05/09/2023 – Power

The president of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Rosa Weber, scheduled for the next 17th, Wednesday, the judgment of the actions in court that deal with the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet. Ministers should assess the accountability of social networks in spreading attacks on democracy.

In reserved conversations, members of the court already discussed that, if the National Congress did not approve the bill 2630, known as the Fake News PL, the Supreme Court would pronounce.

Rosa guided the analysis of the case on the same day that Telegram provoked a reaction from the government, Congress and the Public Ministry after sending a message to users of the platform distorting the PL of Fake News by saying that “Brazil is about to pass a law that will end freedom of expression”.

Last week, Minister Dias Toffoli, rapporteur of one of the lawsuits at the Supreme Court, released an extraordinary appeal that discusses article 19 of the Marco Civil.

Toffoli made the decision two days after the postponement of the vote in the Fake News PL Chamber, which deals with the same topic.

Marco Civil, from 2014, is the main law that regulates the internet in Brazil and determines that platforms can only be civilly liable for third-party content if they do not comply with court orders for removal.

In the appeal reported by Toffoli, a woman asked Facebook to remove a fake profile that pretended to be her and offended several people. Facebook declined to act. She asked for the overthrow of the profile and compensation for moral damages.

A decision would have general repercussions and could set a precedent to hold platforms civilly liable for not removing content before there is a court order.

The Fake News PL, approved in June 2020 in the Senate, proposes changes to these rules, with the so-called duty of care.

The vote in the Chamber was postponed to avoid a defeat by the Lula government (PT), at the request of the rapporteur, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP).

Before the vote, Supreme Minister Alexandre de Moraes criticized the big techs’ offensive against the proposal, which included advertising and alerts on their networks and determined that the Federal Police take depositions from the “presidents or equivalent” of the companies.

Moraes said that the objective was to clarify whether there was abuse of economic power.

He said that it is not credible that, after the elections and the coup attacks of January 8, that private message networks and services “are not fully aware of their instrumentalization by various digital militias to disseminate, propagate and expand countless illicit practices on networks social”.