PL of fake news must be debated by democracy

The producer Brasil Paralelo issued a note in defense of the free circulation of ideas after being summoned by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes to remove all content produced on Bill 2630/2020, known as the Fake News PL. By order of Moraes, the production company withdrew videos published about the proposed law from the air, with arguments for and against the project, as well as interviews with parliamentarians on the subject, under penalty of a fine of BRL 150,000 per hour for disobedience.

“The company understands that the work of the country’s legislators can and should be debated for the good of our democracy. Any regulation of the free circulation of ideas needs to be widely debated so that it does not cause more harm than good,” he said in a note. “Brasil Paralelo’s report on PL2630 presented points of view in favor of and against the bill, in accordance with the principles of good journalism”, highlighted the producer.

In the decision, Moraes also asked that the company be heard by the Federal Police for attitudes that, in the minister’s view, could “characterize an illicit contribution to the misinformation practiced by digital militias on social networks”.

Moraes is one of the major stakeholders in the approval of the Fake News PL. The minister even went to Congress to personally deliver suggestions for the project. The proposals made by the minister to the project recall actions taken by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), during the elections, of censorship of the media.

Brasil Paralelo was one of those affected by these TSE determinations, with the prior censorship order for the documentary “Who ordered the killing of Jair Bolsonaro?”, in October last year. At the time, Minister Benedito Gonçalves justified the ban on showing the video, before seeing the content, with the thesis of “informational disorder”, according to which the dissemination of true information that, as a whole, could harm a candidate, would be abuse of economic power. The decision was taken without presentation of evidence, formal investigation or opening for the full defense of the accused.