Supreme Court Chief Justice Advocates New Fake News Regulation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Chief Justice Dias Toffoli yesterday, July 28th, advocated the creation of new rules and legal instruments to fight fake news, which would expand the potential for holding social media platforms accountable.

“We cannot normalize, condescend, and accept fake news as an inevitable phenomenon. We cannot accept it as something that is impossible to fight or that will become routine in our daily lives. We must have a tool, a state, regulation, and market accountability,” Toffoli said during an online seminar on freedom of expression, organized by the website Poder360 in partnership with the Brazilian Bar Association’s (OAB) Press Freedom Observatory.

The Minister pointed out that all over the world there is a trend to demand greater accountability from companies surrounding fake news, and that the platforms “know that this accountability is coming,” but try to defer this regulation for economic reasons.

In late June, the Senate passed a bill to fight the spread of false information through social media and messaging services. The text now hinges on scrutiny by the Chamber of Deputies.

The initiative was criticized by President Jair Bolsonaro, who said it was a limitation on freedom of expression. He also said he intends to veto parts of the law if he is eventually handed the text passed by the Senate for sanction.

Inquiry

Toffoli again argued for the fake news inquiry on Tuesday, initiated by himself and led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The Chief Justice said the investigation targets a “misinformation machine”.

“What is being investigated in this inquiry extends far beyond demonstrations or blunt criticism of the Court. It is a misinformation machine, using robots, financing, and fake profiles to discredit democratic-republican institutions and their officials,” Toffoli said.

Last week, following a ruling by Moraes, Twitter and Facebook blocked several users’ profiles investigated at the Supreme Court for allegedly spreading false news and for threatening the Court’s justices.

The day after the block, President Jair Bolsonaro, through the Solicitor General of Brazil (AGU), lodged a Direct Action on Unconstitutionality (ADI) with the Supreme Court, calling for any decision to block social media profiles to be overturned.

Until the end of the week, when the Judiciary recess ends, the action is on Toffoli’s desk, who can decide on the request for an injunction before forwarding the case file to the rapporteur, Justice Edson Fachin.

“In Brazil, we have more than 200,000 people provisionally imprisoned without a court sentence. We don’t have 200,000 social networks stopped. Is it more shocking to have stopped social networks – half a dozen stopped social networks, than 200,000 people arrested without a sentence? These are reflections that we must make, I’m not judging here, I’m stating facts,” Toffoli said on Tuesday when asked about the matter.

Source: Agência Brasil