The reaction of part of the National Congress to the decrees issued by the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to expand the accountability of Big Techs occurs without the Legislature having managed to move forward in recent years in broader regulation of digital platforms. There is also no prospect that a text to this effect will be approved by the end of the year, especially with the increasingly close proximity of elections.
In May, Lula signed decrees updating the Civil Rights Framework for the Internetimpose stricter rules for the operation of these companies in the country and increase their liability for criminal publications. In some cases, platforms are forced to remove content from the air after notification, even before a court order.
The measures provoked a strong reaction from the opposition, which has already presented at least 25 projects to overturn the decrees. The president of the Senate, (União Brasil-AP), who is still alive, is awaiting an analysis from the House’s legal consultancy to verify whether the government exceeded its constitutional prerogatives when editing the rules.
Despite the offensive against government decrees, Congress has not made significant progress in regulating Big Techs since the so-called “” was removed from the agenda, in May 2023, never to return. Since then, any more structuring proposal on the topic has been put on hold.
A more recent federal government project aimed at regulating digital markets is being discussed internally, but also remains without a date for voting.
In the midst of this impasse, the main possibility of regulatory advancement in the area of technology today lies in the discussion about artificial intelligence. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, (Republicans-PB), asked the rapporteur of the proposal, Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), to present an opinion on the topic by Tuesday of next week (9), after months of discussions and negotiations.
The text is expected to be analyzed by the plenary later this month. However, disagreements persist on points such as the use of copyrighted works for training artificial intelligence systems.
Furthermore, the legislative calendar is considered tight by parliamentarians, due to the Corpus Christi holiday, the football World Cup, the June festivities and the political articulations already focused on the elections.
Big Techs e STF
In practice, Lula’s presidential decrees on big tech put into effect an understanding previously adopted by . Next week, the Court will judge appeals to clarify points regarding the expansion of these responsibilities.
The debate on the performance of the platforms marked the opening of the 14th edition of, in Portugal, which brought together representatives of the Three Powers this Monday. This year, the event, headed by the STF minister Gilmar Mendesits central theme is the new international order, technology and sovereignty.
When opening the forum, Gilmar stated that he criticized the so-called Big Techs.
“Citizens assume the status of digital servants. Companies pay fees to operate on platforms managed by the new ‘lords of the earth’, the big techs, which today intend to subjugate and see the States themselves bowed before them”, he said.
In the same vein, the minister Alexandre de Moraes stated that on social media.
“In this naivety, we don’t realize that big techs took everyone’s data without authorization. Using non-random algorithms, data is manipulated to carry out real brainwashing in the so-called bubbles”, he declared.
