The thought could be for a regulator to carry such platforms, not shoppers, accountable for monetized content material, Brant informed Reuters.
One other objective is “to forestall the networks from getting used for the dissemination and promotion of crimes and unlawful content material” particularly after the riots by supporters of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia in January, fueled by misinformation concerning the election he misplaced in October.
Brant stated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s authorities additionally intends to make corporations accountable for stopping misinformation, hate speech and different crimes on their social media platforms. Platforms wouldn’t be held accountable for content material individually, however for the way diligent they’re in defending the “digital setting,” he stated in an interview.
Brant didn’t element what the regulatory physique would seem like, however stated the federal government desires to control monetized content material and stop the platforms from spreading misinformation.
“What the physique would do is monitor whether or not the platforms are fulfilling their obligations nicely, and never take care of particular person content material printed by customers. That should be as much as the courts,” he stated.
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Brant didn’t specify the function the judiciary would play in combating misinformation. Any proposal would require modifications to the regulatory framework within the 2014 regulation often called the “Marco Civil” that governs the Web in Brazil and protects the rights of customers.
The regulation’s Article 19 exempts platforms from obligation “for damages ensuing from content material generated by third events”, except there’s a particular court docket order for the removing of the content material.
For Brant, the present framework “generates an incentive for platforms to not deal with the general public area of debate.”
The absence of accountability for content material that’s promoted, monetized or offered as promoting should be reconsidered, he stated, including: “For them to have zero duty for that content material could be very dangerous.”
Brazil’s Supreme Court docket has been discussing the constitutionality of Article 19 since 2017, based mostly on a lawsuit filed by Meta Platforms Inc Meta, proprietor of Fb and WhatsApp.
Meta questioned its duty for eradicating content material and not using a court docket resolution in a case involving a pretend Fb profile. The court docket scheduled a public listening to on the problem for March 28.
