November 3, 2024

oWriters

Immortalizing Ideas

Brazil appears to be like to regulate monetized content material on Online

Brazil appears to be like to regulate monetized content material on Online

SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) – The Brazilian authorities is studying whether to control World-wide-web platforms with information that earns income this kind of as advertising and marketing, its secretary for electronic guidelines, Joao Brant, stated on Friday.

The concept would be for a regulator to keep these types of platforms, not people, accountable for monetized information, Brant informed Reuters.

Yet another objective is “to reduce the networks from getting made use of for the dissemination and marketing of crimes and illegal material” particularly just after the riots by supporters of former much-correct President JairBolsonaro in Brasilia in January, fueled by misinformation about the election he shed in October.

Brant stated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government also intends to make firms responsible for stopping misinformation, detest speech and other crimes on their social media platforms. Platforms would not be held liable for material individually, but for how diligent they are in protecting the “electronic environment,” he claimed in an job interview.

Brant did not element what the regulatory human body would look like, but stated the federal government wishes to regulate monetized material and avert the platforms from spreading misinformation.

“What the physique would do is keep an eye on whether or not the platforms are satisfying their obligations nicely, and not offer with person information posted by customers. That have to be up to the courts,” he stated.

Brant did not specify the job the judiciary would play in battling misinformation.

Any proposal would involve modifications to the regulatory framework in the 2014 regulation identified as the “Marco Civil” that governs the World-wide-web in Brazil and safeguards the rights of end users.

The law’s Posting 19 exempts platforms from lawful obligation “for damages ensuing from content created by third get-togethers”, unless there is a unique courtroom order for the removal of the content material.

For Brant, the current framework “generates an incentive for platforms not to get care of the public place of debate.”

The absence of accountability for content material that is promoted, monetized or presented as advertising will have to be reconsidered, he explained, adding: “For them to have zero obligation for that written content is pretty lousy.”

Brazil’s Supreme Court docket has been talking about the constitutionality of Report 19 due to the fact 2017, based mostly on a lawsuit submitted by Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) Meta, operator of Fb and WhatsApp.

Meta questioned its obligation for taking away content material with no a courtroom choice in a scenario involving a pretend Facebook profile. The court docket scheduled a community hearing on the difficulty for March 28.

(This tale has been refiled to appropriate byline)

Reporting by Victor Pinheiro, Debora Ely and Bernardo Barbosa Editing by David Gregorio

Our Expectations: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.