After a poor performance by the left in municipal elections and the growth of the right in large cities, the Workers’ Party returned to the issue of regulating social networks and presented a new version of the “PL das Fake News” in the Chamber of Deputies, also known as “Censorship PL”.
The new bill (PL 4,144/2024), authored by deputy Pedro Uczai (PT-SC), proposes to regulate content on digital platforms, with a focus on “combating misinformation”, with the creation of a regulatory agency responsible for monitor the application of the new rules. Companies that failed to comply with the determinations would be subject to fines and even temporary suspension.
Uczai argues that the measure is essential to “protect democracy and prevent disinformation campaigns from compromising public debate”. When presenting the project, he also says that there is a need to combat the proliferation of false information to protect “voters against disinformation campaigns that manipulate reality and distort facts with hidden objectives”. However, experts interviewed by the report warn that, if approved , the proposal would result in excessive control of social networks, creating risks to freedom of expression.
The new proposal was a request from the president of the PT, federal deputy Gleisi Hoffman (PR), after she took stock of the party’s performance in this year’s municipal election, when it managed to elect only one mayor in the capital, Fortaleza (CE), and plus 251 managers in smaller cities.
The chances of the project progressing at this point are small, as the debate on the regulation of social networks has been paralyzed in the Chamber since June, when the President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), determined the creation of a working group for the “Censorship Bill”.
Project defines “misleading” content and establishes fines for spreading Fake News
Congressman Pedro Uczai’s bill defines disinformation as “the transmission of incorrect information in an unintentional manner, which may cause confusion or harm to the public”, and misleading information as “the deliberate dissemination of false information, with the intention of deceiving or causing harm, especially when conveyed as if they were true.” To avoid them, the PT deputy proposes a series of rules to be obeyed by big techs:
- Disseminate in a clear and accessible way its policies for preventing and combating disinformation and misleading information;
- Implement systems that guarantee the identification and combat of disinformation and misleading information, such as fact-checking mechanisms, labeling content that contains contestable information and creating easily accessible mechanisms for users to report suspicious information;
- Cooperate with government bodies and sector associations to develop conduct that guarantees practices to prevent and respond to misinformation and misleading information;
- Promote educational campaigns to inform users on how to identify misinformation and misleading information;
- Promote transparency in the disclosure of content recommendation algorithms and moderation practices, informing users about their policies.
The text delegates to the Executive the authority to approve codes and “determine standards that are adequate to protect Brazilian society from harm caused by misinformation and misleading information” and to examine “systemic issues” in the conduct of social media platforms.
Furthermore, the proposal provides for the creation of a regulatory body to evaluate and define what constitutes disinformation. The text also establishes the responsibility of the platforms, which will now have to monitor and remove content that meets the disinformation criteria, under penalty of sanctions, such as warning, fine and “temporary suspension of content dissemination activity on the platform”.
Jurist criticizes resumption of attempted censorship on networks
In the past, similar proposals to control content on social networks did not advance due to warnings about censorship that the new rules allowed.
Jurist André Marsiglia, a specialist in freedom of expression, criticizes the resumption of debate in the new project, stating that “regulation proposals in Brazil, coming from the Judiciary or the Legislature, are invariably synonymous with censorship and control,” and that, at the same time, By defining “incorrect and misleading content” vaguely, the project leaves room for interpretations that could limit legitimate expression.
Marsiglia’s speech reinforces concerns that, in a scenario of polarization, the text, if approved, could be used as a tool for political control.
The leader of the opposition in the Chamber, federal deputy Filipe Barros (PL-PR), told People’s Gazette that “the PT’s litany has already been worn out, which, with each new failure, rushes to place the blame on social media users, continually resurrecting its old desire to censor the population.”
In the parliamentarian’s opinion, the PT, “because it can no longer speak to Brazilians”, recurrently suggests “macabre proposals to silence millions of critics of lulopetismo”, who use the networks to express their opinion.
But the deputy believes that the election of Republican Donald Trump in the United States and his offensive against censorship on platforms will give greater impetus to debate regulation in Brazil, based on the premise, according to Barros, that users’ rights must be preserved and that the climate of “permanent witch hunt” needs to end.
With Trump as president of the United States, and businessman Elon Musk, owner of the social network X, as his ally, the expectation from the right is that there will be strong resistance to any regulation of digital content that could affect freedom of expression in the USA.
Project to regulate networks is a setback for freedom of expression, says lawyer
The project filed in the Chamber recently by deputy Pedro Uczai is a clear setback for freedom of expression and other fundamental rights, according to lawyer Anne Dias, president of LOLA Brasil (Ladies of Liberty Alliance) – a global organization of women who defend freedom .
“At various times in history, we see attempts at censorship when the power of communication grows and reaches the population on a large scale. An example is the emergence of the press, which frightened authorities due to its ability to disseminate content quickly, leading to attempts at control. This project reflects the same impulse: the fear that authorities have of the power of social mobilization”, highlights Anne Dias.
Still according to the president of LOLA Brasil, it is natural for proposals of this type to emerge, especially in authoritarian contexts, and it will be up to society and parliament to resist and articulate for the overthrow of the project, just as happened with the previous initiative to censor networks , through PL 2,630/20.
In the opinion of the lawyer who heads the organization of women who defend freedom, the text has problematic points, such as generically citing terms such as freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
“It’s like raising a flag for freedom while creating mechanisms to restrict it. The violation of press freedom is clear in measures like this, something we have already seen happen with the abusive use of the judiciary to persecute media outlets”, highlights Anne Dias.
“Previously, there was a lack of legal support to justify such actions, but if this law is approved, it will be much easier for any regulatory body to demand the removal of content it considers ‘disinformation.’ This is what we also saw in the 2022 elections, when the judiciary banned terms such as ‘ex-convict,’ ‘convicted,’ ‘thief,’ ‘corrupt,’ and ‘head of a criminal organization’ in the press to refer to a specific candidate. These are direct interferences that weaken the very valuable principle of freedom of expression”, concludes the president of LOLA Brasil.
Another aspect of concern in the project that aims to regulate Fake News concerns the possibility of temporarily suspending a platform’s activities. “In Brazil, we have already witnessed a similar measure, taken without any legal support, when a minister ordered the blocking of an entire social network [o X]for more than a month, and imposed disproportionate fines, one of the biggest violations of freedom of expression in the country’s recent history”, recalls the lawyer.
For her, measures of this type violate not only the principle of freedom of expression and the press, but also economic freedom, as the suspension of a platform affects not only the right of users to express themselves, but also compromises the functioning of businesses and the livelihood of professionals who depend on these networks for their activities.
“By granting such broad powers to intervene in the operation of platforms, the project opens space for abuse and could establish a dangerous precedent of digital censorship, limiting the diversity of voices and the circulation of information”, concludes Dias.
Resistance to the control of Big Techs in Congress
The “Censorship PL”, reported by deputy Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), was urgently discussed in the plenary last year, but did not move forward due to lack of agreement and ended up being “shelved” by Lira, even after changes and even an attempt to slice the text. In April this year, the president of the Chamber determined the installation of a working group to resume the debate on networks “from scratch”.
“It is nothing new that we tried several times, on different occasions, with the effort of all the leaders, the rapporteur, the presidency of the House, to vote on the project. We subdivided the text into the issue of streaming and the issue of copyright and were unable to reach a consensus. All leaders assessed that the project would not be able to go to the agenda”, said Lira.
But despite the willingness to address the issue of networks, trying to avoid controversy and what he called narratives about censorship and restriction of freedom of expression, the president of the Chamber installed the working group in June. So far, however, there has not even been a meeting.
PL 4144/24, in turn, was filed with the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Deputies on October 30th. As it is an ordinary bill, it still needs to be distributed by the president of the Chamber of Deputies to the thematic committees that deal with matters related to the proposal.
