The Union’s Attorney General said that the company behaves like an airport windsock and that the new guidelines are not clear
The Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, stated this Friday (10 January 2025) that the government will extrajudicially question , owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, so that it can explain the new content moderation policy within 72 hours. According to him, the multinational is like a “airport windsock” and the new guidelines have been unclear since its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced it.
“Due to this company’s lack of transparency, we will present an extrajudicial notification and the company will have 72 hours to inform the Brazilian government what its policy towards Brazil actually is”he stated.
Meta decided to end its fact-checking system and lifted restrictions on publications on its social networks Facebook and Instagram. The decision was announced by Zuckerberg in a video posted on Tuesday (7 January).
“The Brazilian government’s enormous concern with the policy adopted by the company Meta, which looks like an airport windsock, changes its position all the time depending on the winds. I want to tell this company that Brazilian society will not be at the mercy of this type of policy”disse Messias.
According to the minister of AGU (Attorney General of the Union), a possible suspension of platforms in Brazil is not yet on the government’s table. He stated, however, that, if Meta’s response is not satisfactory, he could take legal action against the company.
“That [suspensão] is not under discussion at the moment, what we are discussing is what policy to protect vulnerable populations and guarantee fundamental rights that this company will adopt. This is the fundamental issue, because the company, when it changed its policy, was not transparent and did not inform the government and Brazilian society how it should behave from now on”he declared.
For Messias, the government’s main concern is with children and adolescents, vulnerable populations and small traders who use Meta’s platforms daily.
The AGU minister, as well as others, met with the president (PT) to discuss the recent announcement by the North American company. He spoke to journalists after that.
“There is enormous concern from the government in protecting our children and adolescents, in protecting vulnerable populations, in protecting small traders who use these networks for their business.”
