STF ministers use attack and 8/1 to defend accountability of social networks

The coup acts of January 8th and the bomb attack near the Federal Supreme Court (STF) were highlighted this Thursday, 28th, in the trial that will define whether platforms should be held responsible for content published by users. Ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Cármen Lúcia used the episodes to criticize social networks for allowing the circulation of anti-democratic publications.

On the day of the invasion of Praça dos Três Poderes, radical Bolsonarists recorded videos and broadcast live broadcasts uneventfully. Much of the articulation also took place on the internet.

“The 8th of January demonstrated the total failure of the self-regulation system of all networks, of all big techs”, said Moraes. “It is factually impossible to defend, after January 8th, that the self-regulation system works. Total and absolute bankruptcy, instrumentalization and, regrettably, part of collusion.”

The minister criticized technology companies for not promptly removing content published by scammers and stated that they acted in this way out of economic interests.

“The Praça dos Três Poderes was invaded, the Supreme Court, Congress and Palácio do Planalto were being destroyed, people were making videos, posting on social media, calling on more people to destroy, and social media didn’t remove anything. Why? Because like on top of like, business system, monetization.”

Moraes also argued that social networks can broadly replicate the system that has already been used to combat child pornography, pedophilia and copyright infringement.

“It should not be said that technologically it is not possible because in relation to child pornography, pedophilia and copyright, artificial intelligence and algorithms remove, before a like, 93% of posts. The next 7% is sent to the human beings committee. So it is possible technologically. What there wasn’t, and hasn’t been, is commitment”, said the minister.

The bomb attack that ended with the death of locksmith Francisco Wanderley Luiz, Tiü França, was remembered by minister Cármen Lúcia. She highlighted that there were posts anticipating the attack.

“The post of the person attacking the Supreme Court was also on the networks, saying he was going to do something. And we couldn’t even see or glimpse anything. What we had was that night with a tragic act, tragic institutionally, personally and of every nature”, highlighted the minister.

Minister Dias Toffoli, rapporteur of one of the cases being judged, also argued that social networks need to take greater responsibility in content moderation.

The ministers will decide whether to expand the platforms’ obligation to monitor the content circulating on the networks – one of the biggest points of concern for big techs. The STF also needs to define whether technology companies can be punished for publications even when there is no court order to take them down, which would imply more rigorous content moderation.

The tendency is for the STF to make changes to the current rules of the Marco Civil da Internet, expanding the obligations of big techs. For some ministers, the obligation to remove fake profiles without the need for a court order is less controversial, although it demands a more active role from social networks in verifying the authenticity of accounts. The issue of removing specific content based on extrajudicial deliberation, however, is considered more thorny.