“We will need to regulate social networks,” says Brazil’s ex-president Lula in Europe

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has advocated media regulation in prior talks, on Thursday, November 19, said in Brussels that social networks and the Internet need “parameters”.

“We will need to regulate social networks, regulate the internet, set parameters. It’s one thing to use the media to educate. It’s another to do evil, to tell lies, to damage society,” Lula said. The statements were made in an interview with the S&D group, in the Belgian capital.

According to Lula, the spread of fake news led to the rise and election of far-right politicians like Bolsonaro and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The leftist presidential candidate also advocated holding the owners of platforms accountable for published content that is harmful to society. “These people need to be responsible so as not to allow evil to be spread to harm people,” he said.

In September, Lula said that, if elected in 2022, he intends to regulate the media. The matter was discussed during Lula’s administration, particularly during his second term, but failed to advance. In late October, after criticism from press organizations, Lula softened his tone and said that this is a matter to be discussed in Congress, and not decided by the President.

The ex-president is in Europe at the invitation of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, associated with the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). During the trip, Lula spoke at the European Parliament, in Brussels, and met with political leaders such as presidents Emmanuel Macron (France), Pedro Sánchez (Spain), and the future chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz.