O Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) formed a majority to give period of 60 days so that the big techs apply the structural obligations determined by the Court in the judgment of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internetsuch as the duty of care to prevent the massive circulation of serious illegal content. Before, compliance was immediate. The deadline starts from the publication of the minutes of the judgment of the appeals analyzed by the Court. The trial should resume next Wednesday (17) to announce the result.
Appeals against a decision that increased the responsibility of platforms for criminal content published by users. The decision opened space for companies be held responsible if they do not remove posts that contain crimes right after user notification. Under the previous regime, a court decision was required.
Ministers also discuss the temporal scope of the thesis. When judging the matter in June 2025, the Court established that the effects of the decision only apply to the future. Now, the rapporteur, Dias Toffoli, has proposed a modulation that reaches ongoing actions that request compensation for damages caused by content on social networks.
Toffoli’s proposal is that, in lawsuits filed by June 26, 2025 (date of judgment on the merits) that have already become final, the application of the previous system is maintained. For actions filed up to this date that are still ongoing, it must be applied the new thesiseven if the act was carried out before the trial.
Minister Flávio Dino diverged at that point. For him, even the ongoing actions proposals before June 26, 2025 must be judged under the previous system. “Before 2025, there was no duty of care,” Dino pointed out. For him, the modulation proposed by Toffoli “would imply creating duties retroactively”.
Minister André Mendonça reiterated his position against the expansion of platform responsibility. At last year’s trial, he voted to maintain the previous regime. “In the current situation, we are generating an inhibitory effect because the platforms, rightly so, in order to preserve themselves, will exclude content,” he stated. Therefore, he voted to accept the request from platforms that want to include the expression “manifestly illicit” to restrict the content that must be removed, but was defeated on the point.
Structural duties
For most ministers, the 60-day deadline should apply to duties that require more platform preparation. This is the case with the application of the so-called “duty of care” to prevent the massive circulation of serious illicit content, such as terrorism, instigation of suicide, sexual crimes and child pornography.
The deadline also applies to the self-regulation editing by platformswhich must include annual transparency reports on extrajudicial notifications, announcements and promotions.
Another duty that will have a period of 60 days to implementation is the provision specific service channels for users and non-users of the platforms.
Ministers are still discussing whether these obligations should only apply to large providerswith more than 1 million registered users in Brazil, or to all platforms operating in Brazil.
