The minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) stated this Wednesday (4) that society lives in an environment of digital violence and that current legislation on platform liability grants immunity to platforms. In sessions dedicated to the topic, Moraes has criticized big tech, including that the self-regulation system for social media platforms has failed.
“Today we live in a world of digital violence. And digital violence is what article 19 covers, as long as there is no non-compliance with a court decision. I’m sorry, but I will reiterate this at all times”, said the minister.
He and Luiz Fux report on the two cases being analyzed in court since last week and which deal with sections of the Marco Civil da . Among them, article 19, which deals with the liability of social media platforms for third-party content.
Toffoli continues the reading of the vote that began in the session last Thursday (28). At the time, the minister signaled the line adopted by arguing that the device gives immunity to platforms. “If the court order is complied with, there is no need to pay any damages. You shrug your shoulders. There is no responsibility. That’s what it’s about. And is it like that in the real world? And I always say: what is illegal in the world real, it’s illegal in the virtual world. It’s as simple as that”, said the rapporteur.
The rapporteur stated that not all the discussion is about the production of third-party content. According to him, the internet provider cannot be held responsible, as it is just the infrastructure. “The law dealt with liability due to third-party content. But the boosting is a direct act of the platform. It is not a third party that does it,” he said.
Moraes also spoke on the topic again and cited the choice of the term “— as the word of the year 2024.
“This problem of low quality, hate speech, violence, bullying, is not just in Brazil, it is all over the world. I repeat here, I insist that, unfortunately, self-regulation has failed. It is necessary to preserve the dignity of human person, people’s honor, and also preserve, in the case of attacks against democracy, the rule of law”, he said.
Minister Flávio Dino added that children and adolescents are today exposed to the greatest number of digital violence. “About this intense communication of virtual violence, which is real and vice versa, I lived in the month of April 2023, one of the most terrible months of my life, which was the period in which there was that attack at the school in Blumenau”, he said .
That month, a man entered the Cantinho Bom Pastor daycare center in (SC) and . During this period, there were thousands of threats published on social networks.
the Marco Civil da Internet establishes that networks are only subject to pay compensation for content posted by a third party if, after a court decision ordering its removal, they keep the content on the air.
A , when only oral arguments occurred. In total, 22 lawyers were registered to speak. This is the third plenary session dedicated to the topic.
When beginning the analysis, the president of the Supreme Court, stated that the court judges excerpts after Congress did not legislate on the matter. “The court waited for a very reasonable period of time for legislation to come from the Legislature and, if that didn’t happen, the time has come for us to decide this matter,” he said.
The Civil Framework. The cases have been on and off the agenda three times in recent years. In the last one, they were postponed after a request from the Chamber of Deputies, due to the expected vote on the Fake News PL.
The law was cited by the minister, for example, to support the (ex-) in Brazil.
Since the investigation into the attempted coup d’état in 2022, the text of the law is similar to what was being discussed within the scope of the Fake News PL.
Last week, Moraes said that the coup attacks demonstrated the .
