Congress Overrides Veto, Reinstates Longer Jail Terms for Fake News Purveyors

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, August 28th, the Brazilian Congress overrode a veto by President Jair Bolsonaro regarding the spreading of fake news. In June 2019, the President vetoed the article in Law 13.834/2019 that increased the penalty on those who repeated or reproduced false news involving candidates for electoral purposes.

In all, 326 deputies and 48 senators were in favor of overriding the veto. As of now, therefore, those who produce or merely reproduce fake electoral news may face from two to eight years in prison.

For the time being, it is still unclear as to how any investigation will be conducted, and the confirmation of each rumor will be defined. Besides, a verdict will only be rendered once it is proven that the accused was aware of the victim’s innocence and acted in sheer bad faith. In other words, not all fake reproductions will be deemed crimes.

According to the news agency of the Federal Senate, Bolsonaro had justified his veto by pointing out that slander for electoral purposes “is currently defined in another provision of the Electoral Code” with a penalty of between six months and two years of imprisonment.

Therefore, according to the president, equating the penalty for reproduction with that for production would be a violation of the “principle of proportionality”, since the liability and culpability of whoever creates the fake news should be greater. The crime of “slanderous denunciation for electoral purposes” has existed in Brazil since 1965.

The president of Congress, Senator Davi Alcolumbre, further announced that a Joint Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPMI) would be instated to “investigate false news”, which should more accurately specify the workings of the law.