Barroso once again defends platform regulation to prevent the world from falling into an abyss of hate

Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), once again defended the regulation of digital platforms to combat the spread of fake news and hate speech. There are actions being processed in the STF on the matter, but the processes are shelved. For now, the ministers decided to wait for Congress, which failed to reach consensus to advance a bill on the topic, after the failure of the Fake News PL.

“We have a very delicate ethical and legal issue which is to draw the line between legitimate freedom of expression and necessary for democratic life and, on the other hand, preventing the world from falling into an abyss of incivility, lies, offenses and hatred ”, said Barroso in a lecture on the night of Friday, 18th, at the Faculty of Law of Santo André, in Greater São Paulo.

The president of the STF also stated that the operating logic of digital platforms drives fake news and extremist speeches.

“Digital platforms attracted advertising because they have more views, more engagement. And, sad as it is for the human condition, aggressiveness, rudeness, offense, lies and conspiracy theories bring much more engagement than moderate and rational speech”, criticized the minister. “So there is a perverse incentive. If you spread hate, you get more views. That is why, to some extent, it is necessary to regulate.”

Barroso acknowledged, however, that the regulation process is not simple because it needs to balance the right to freedom of expression: “It’s not an easy regulation, because you don’t want to stop people from demonstrating. Determining what is acceptable or not is not always simple.”

The STF has been on a collision course with technology giants. Before temporarily banning X (formerly Twitter), the court had already pressured Telegram for ignoring legal notices. The Supreme Court also ordered representatives from Google and Telegram to be investigated for campaigns against the Fake News PL.

For the ministers, if they want to operate in national territory, big techs need to comply with Brazilian legislation. Members of the STF recognize, however, that Congress’s delay in regulating the issue puts the court in an undesirable situation.

Recently, ministers decided that platforms cannot take legal action to try to reverse blocks on social media profiles, which displeased representatives of these companies. The First Panel of the STF considered that, as they are not parties to the proceedings, social networks can only execute account suspension orders. Therefore, it is up to the profile owners to challenge the decisions in court.