Brazil’s Supreme Court clears way to hold social media companies liable for user content
Sao Paulo – The Supreme Court of Brazil agreed Thursday on the details of a decision to maintain social media companies responsible for what their users publish, which opens the way to enter into force in a few weeks.
Voting 8-3 in the best ordinances of the Brazil court such as Google, Meta and Tiktok to actively monitor the content which implies the speech of hatred, racism and incentive to violence and to act to remove it.
The case disrupted the relationship between the South American nation and the US government. Critics have expressed their concern that this decision could threaten freedom of expression if the platforms remove preventively which could be problematic.
After Thursday’s decision is published by the court, people will be able to continue social media companies for welcoming illegal content if they refuse to withdraw it after a victim has attracted it. The court has not established firm rules on illegal content, which lets it decide on a case -by -case basis.
The decision strengthens a law which obliges companies to delete the content only after the judicial orders, which were often ignored.
This is the product of two cases accepted by the court last year during which social media companies were accused of not acting against users promoting fraud, juvenile pornography and violence.
The majority of the 11 judges voted to approve the change two weeks ago, but it took until today to reach a consensus on how to implement it.
The judges also agreed that social media companies will not be responsible if they can show that they have taken measures to delete illegal content in a timely manner.
Google said in a statement that analyzes the court’s decision.
“We remain open to dialogue,” said the company.
The higher court of Brazil made the decision after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against any visa restrictions against foreign officials involved in the censorship of American citizens.
Thursday’s decision brings Brazil’s approach to Big Tech closer to the approach of the European Union, which sought to slow down the power of social media companies and other digital platforms.
