Minister declared that the country will have “difficult days ahead”; he denied fake news about car taxation
The Minister of Finance, , said this Tuesday (14.Jan.2025) that big techs have aligned themselves with the “far right”. Without mentioning Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), which stated that the country will have “difficult days ahead” because of fake news.
Haddad gave an interview to journalists this Tuesday (14 January 2025). He criticized the use of deepfake – human images and sounds based on artificial intelligence techniques – to proliferate lies.
“It seems that, after this alignment of big tech with the extreme right, we are really going to have difficult days ahead. This consumes energy from the government, the State, and civil servants to combat a type of barbarity that, in my opinion, with this alignment with fascism, should happen more”he declared.
Haddad declared that there is a “extreme right” organized in the world that has “quite a lot of firepower”. And he added: “This is very delicate for democracy, because you can ruin an honest debate, fair play, which democracy demands”.
FAKE NEWS
Haddad denied yet another false news spread on social media. The post says that the minister would create an environmental tax to tax old cars, over 20 years old.
Fake news published on social media about the taxation of vehicles over 20 years old
According to Haddad, there are people who prefer to trust fake news or “Zap to tio” (referring to WhatsApp) than in the press itself. He stated that it is unpleasant to experience fake news for the second time in less than a week.
“Today, again, another fake news. I was the victim of a deepfake. Unfortunately, some people are not taking seriously what this could mean for democracy if you put a sentence in someone’s mouth that they didn’t say and with technological refinement that makes a lot of people believe in it”these.
Haddad thanked the solidarity of congressmen, including those from the opposition, who called the minister to discuss the use of artificial intelligence to announce the creation of taxes on Pix and pets. The minister also declared that no Bolsonarista called him.
“Many people who are not part of the government’s support base called concerned about this and showed solidarity”he declared.
