Toffoli will release action to regulate networks in the STF by the end of June

Minister Dias Toffoli announced this Tuesday (9) that, by the end of June this year, he will submit for judgment an action that could regulate social networks, to hold them responsible for illicit content generated by users, even without a prior decision. judicial. In practice, they would be punished with compensation if they do not remove, on their own initiative or after notification from third parties, posts or videos that may, for example, represent threats against institutions, incitement to violence or discrimination.

“The files must be sent for judgment by the end of June this year, with the voting proposal still pending specific adjustments”, informed the minister in a note distributed to the press. After he releases the case, it will be up to the president of the STF, Luís Roberto Barroso, to set a date for the trial. The action is of interest to the majority of ministers, who seek to tighten surveillance on networks to stop the spread of offenses and supposed threats directed at them, which they consider “attacks” on the institution.

Today, they are only held responsible if, after a court decision that considers certain content illegal, they refuse to remove the material even after notification from the Court, which informs the exact address of what must be removed. This is what the Marco Civil da Internet provides, a law approved in 2014 and which began to be challenged in the STF. The objective is to make exceptions, especially for content that could cause harm and go viral quickly.

Since 2020, Bill 2630/2020 has been in progress in Congress, with the same objective, and which has already been approved in the Senate. Also known as PL das Fake News or Censorship PL, it is strongly opposed in the Chamber, where it is stuck waiting for a vote. The fear of platforms and freedom of expression activists is that the text will increase self-censorship on networks. For fear of being harshly punished, they can massively remove content, even texts, videos, images, audios or legal and legitimate posts, if they understand that these materials could eventually be classified by the courts within prohibited categories – anti-democratic, hateful, violent content or content against health standards – given the subjectivity in defining these terms.

The recent criticisms by the owner of the of the Censorship PL, but there is no guaranteed majority to approve the text in the Chamber.

In the press release, Toffoli recalled that his rapporteur’s action was discussed in May last year, but ended up not being judged – at the same time, the rapporteur of the Censorship Bill in the Chamber, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP ), realizing that there was no majority to approve it in the House, asked for it to be removed from the voting agenda – since then, the proposal has been paralyzed. “Due to a request to wait for the vote, in the Chamber of Deputies, on new rules covering the matter, the trial of the case ended up not taking place in 2023,” he informed.