Future Secom minister says changes to social media harm democracy

The publicist Sidônio Palmeirawho will be the next minister of the Presidency’s Social Communication Secretariat (Secom), commented this Wednesday (8) on the changes announced by the multinational Meta, a technology company that controls Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, in the operation of these social networks.

Among the changes are a new content moderation policy on these platforms, which includes the end of the fact-checking program that verifies the veracity of information circulating on networks, the end of restrictions on subjects such as migration and gender, and the promotion of “civic content”, understood as information with a political-ideological content.

“This is bad for democracy. Why? Because you don’t control the proliferation of hate, misinformation, fake news. This is the problem. And we need to have control. It is necessary to have regulation of social networks. This has to happen in Europe and in the countries here”, said the marketer.

“Why is it that in the United States, they often shut down TikTok and don’t want it? Why does China stop this? And why are we exposed to all this? This is the question”, said the publicist to journalists, at Palácio do Planalto, after participating in the political act in defense of democracy and in memory of the coup acts of January 8, 2023.

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According to the President of the Republic, “it is not possible for anyone to imagine that there is a better form of governance anywhere in the world outside of democracy”

Although the new Meta rules, for now, are only valid in the USA, the future minister said that it is up to the countries, in a sovereign way, to establish legislation that covers the functioning of the sector, without specifying.

“Now, the goal decision is a company decision. The Brazilian government and Brazilian justice may adopt other criteria. Of course, of course. We have an autonomous, independent country that will take the necessary measures”, he stated.

New minister

Sidônio was announced on Tuesday (7) as the new minister of Secom, replacing Paulo Pimentaand should be sworn in next Tuesday (14).

In the conversation with journalists, he revealed that the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT)halfway through his mandate, hopes that Secom can effectively communicate the government’s actions to the population for the next two years.

“The government has a lot of things and the feeling I have is this: the expectations of the government are greater than the government, and the government is greater than the popular perception. The ideal, in government, is that the three (points) are aligned. It is our understanding. So, how to do this? There is the issue of communication, there is the issue of management and there is the political issue”, he observed.