The minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) stated this Thursday (5) that the protagonist of the debate on the internet in the court are robots.
During the , the judge commented on the difference between content passed on by authentic profiles or that made viral by promotion on the platform.
“The one who reproduces this information is the robot. We are dealing with people’s freedom of expression, when, in fact, deep down, the main protagonist of this circulation of all this information, whether false or true, or directed towards the bubbles, which themselves create, it’s artificial intelligence. It’s the robot’s fault”, said the minister.
The STF resumed the trial this Thursday (5), still with the vote of one of the rapporteurs, minister. This is the fourth session dedicated to the topic. Among the topics questioned in the resources under analysis is article 19 of the Marco Civil, which deals with the liability of social media platforms for third-party content.
Toffoli defended that the STF establishes the direct responsibility of companies in cases of unidentified or automated accounts, robots.
“The maintenance of inauthentic, de-identified and/or automated accounts in virtual environments, due to inertia of application providers and obstacles to their creation or once created, identified and neutralized, constitutes a serious civil offense and may put freedom of expression at risk” , he said.
Fux asked to speak at a time when Toffoli was making the distinction between the actions of users and robots. Toffoli agreed with his colleague’s comment: “The invisible hand of artificial intelligence. Much is said about the invisible hand of the market. But there is the invisible hand of artificial intelligence.”
Minister Flávio Dino also joined the conversation, mentioning the power of big techs. “The hand is invisible, but the brain is visible. The profits even more so. They are the biggest companies in the world”, he said.
Toffoli and Fux report the two cases being analyzed in court since last week. So far, Toffoli’s vote has already taken one and a half sessions. After the minister’s conclusion, Fux will make his statement so that the rest of the ministers can then speak.
Despite not having completed his vote, Toffoli has already declared that he understands that article 19 is unconstitutional. It 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 air.
In the first part of the vote, Toffoli stated that the section of the law was not capable, since its publication, of protecting fundamental rights and safeguarding constitutional principles and values in virtual environments, in addition to failing to address the risks that arose from the development of new business models from big techs.
“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”, added the minister, who continued the reading of the vote started in the session last Thursday (28).
Even though only Toffoli officially had the floor to vote, other ministers made comments throughout the sessions, generally criticizing big tech.
In addition to this Thursday’s comments, Minister Alexandre de Moraes also stated that the platforms do not have the will to improve the digital environment.
“There is a lack of goodwill because, in fact, that is the design of the business: to have more robots, to have more offense, more hate speech, to monetize and make more money. So we have to choose whether we are going to allow a truly wild capitalism on the networks or if we are going to put the Constitution within the networks too”, he stated.
Last Thursday, Moraes stated that the coup attacks demonstrated the use of social networks.
“January 8th demonstrated the total failure of the self-regulation system of all networks, of all big techs. Bankruptcy because everything was organized by the networks. Or a large part by the networks”, said Moraes, when asking to speak during the trial at STF that evaluates third-party content.
