Project that obliges platforms to pay newspapers and artists should be voted on Tuesday

A sliced ​​version of the so-called “PL das Fake News” should be voted on in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies next Tuesday (15), with a focus on demanding that digital platforms begin to remunerate press vehicles and artists whose content is reproduced on the internet. Internet.

Bill 2.370/2019, authored by deputy Jandira Feghali (PCdoB-RJ) and rapporteur by federal deputy Elmar Nascimento (União Brasil-BA), meets a portion of what proposed PL 2.630/2020, which had the vote postponed by the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), in May this year. This is an attempt to update the Copyright Law, which dates back to 1998.

With the slicing, Lira temporarily suspends the most controversial discussion of the project that was discussed a few months ago, about the possibility of increasing censorship of certain types of content. PL 2,370 does not address the issue.

If the project is approved, networks and platforms with more than 2 million users in Brazil will need to remunerate journalistic companies for the use of their content. In the case of sharing by users who commercially exploit the content, journalistic vehicles would also need to be remunerated.

If the digital platform adds elements or summaries to expand the information contained in the shared content – ​​as Twitter does, for example –, it will be obliged to remunerate the newspapers.

It is not clear in the text of the project whether this payment would be required in the case of influencers who earn money from platforms such as YouTube by commenting on journalistic content. According to the proposition, “if the end user shares journalistic content without economic purposes”, the network will not need to remunerate the newspaper.

The proposal that must be voted on also requires streaming platforms, such as Netflix, to pay directly to copyright holders of music and audiovisual works a share of the dividends obtained from these products.

Payment will be made through collectively managed associations of artists and content producers, and each provider would be charged for a single association.

The new rules face resistance from the big technology companies, which have emphasized that the changes could make some long-term services unfeasible for free, or increase the price of those that are paid for.

If the PL is approved, the rules only come into effect one year after publication, so that those involved can adapt to them.

See the main points of the “PL of Fake News sliced”:

• Platforms with more than 2 million users in Brazil must remunerate journalistic companies for the use of their content, even in the case of sharing by users who commercially exploit the content.
• Platforms must also remunerate copyright holders of audiovisual content whose works are made available on the internet, even in the case of mere sharing by users.
• This payment will be made through collective management associations of artists and content producers, and each provider would be charged for a single association.
• Religious preaching is now recognized as a work protected by copyright and would be covered by the new rules.
• Digital platforms will need to clearly identify advertisements and provide users with a reason why they see certain advertisements.