Brazil’s Prosecutor’s General Office (PGR) asked the Federal Supreme Court to investigate the directors of Google and Telegram in the country, local media reported.
According to the G1 portal, the request responds to a call from the president of the Chamber.
It aims to investigate “the directors of Google and Telegram in Brazil who have participated in the disinformation campaign against the Fake News Bill.
The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, notified the Prosecutor’s Office stating that the two companies were carrying out a “forceful and abusive action” against the approval of this law.
On May 10, the Supreme Court had already threatened to suspend the use of Telegram in Brazil for 72 hours if the company did not back down and remove a message to its users in which it spread hoaxes about the bill.
Days earlier, Google was forced by the government to qualify as advertising a message it placed on the homepage of its search engine, also warning users that the law’s approval would be detrimental to their interests and internet freedom.
In his petition to the Prosecutor’s Office, the president of the Chamber stated that the companies act to safeguard their economic interests and that “they have used all sorts of artifices in a sordid campaign of disinformation, manipulation, and intimidation, taking advantage of their hegemonic position in the market.”
For the Chamber president, the action of the companies may constitute crimes against democratic institutions, order, consumer relations, and the economy.
The Fake News Bill, which aims to regulate the use of social networks to prevent disinformation and hate speeches, was to be voted on a few days ago in the Chamber but was finally withdrawn when the Government realized that it still did not have enough votes to go ahead.
With information from Sputnik
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