Brasília, May 30, 2010 (FBC) The head of Brazil’s electoral authority, Supreme Court Justice Alexander de Moras, issued a stern warning to the world’s biggest technology companies yesterday, saying that they will not allow the world’s biggest technology companies to undermine Brazil’s democracy.
Moraes’ comments – including the claim that global tech giants “believe no authority in the world can control them” – reflect a growing global debate about whether companies are doing enough to police their platforms.
The right-wing battles, including efforts by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to undermine the country’s electoral system during last year’s presidential election, will form a major new battle line for the judge.
“The big technology platforms are approached and punished. They will be responsible, to guarantee the freedom of choice of the voter,” said Moraes of the judges and public servants who study electoral law, without naming any specific organizations.
Shortly after the speech, Moras threatened to block and fine Telegram nationwide unless he followed through with an order to remove his on-stage criticism of a major law seeking to curb the spread of online disinformation.
Telegram later took down the message and said in a statement that the Supreme Court ordered it to tell users that the message was “distorted” in an attempt to “incite and incite users to pressure lawmakers.”
Brazil is one of the countries leading the way globally in pushing tech giants to take stronger action against consumers they see spreading false information.
Moras ordered Telegram to be fined once this year for failing to comply with a court order to block Bolsonaro supporters’ accounts, and days later ordered the app suspended last year.
Information dissemination account
Dubbed the “Fake News Act,” the Internet Regulation Bill would require Internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal content rather than leave it up to the courts, with hefty fines for failure to do so. in order to.
Global technology companies have argued that the bill opens the door to censorship. They say it threatens free services on their platforms if they are obliged to pay copyright to content providers and material posted on their websites.
Last week, Alphabet’s Google ( GOOGL.O ) added a link to a blog on its search engine in Brazil and asked users to attract their representatives.
Brazil’s government and judiciary have said such measures are inappropriate interference in congressional debate.
“The law must prevail against Digital Far West,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino said, giving Google two hours to remove the link or face a hefty fine.
Google pulled it within minutes, maintaining its right to raise concerns about what it called “marketing campaigns” on the platform.
The bill was pulled from the fast track last week with no public release date due to lack of support from conservative lawmakers and the House, who say the government’s plan is to blame the opposition. Voting.
($1 = 5.0033 riels)
Reporting by Ricardo Brito, Writing by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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