From the dissemination of anti-democratic videos to proclaiming himself President of the Republic, how platforms should act with Bolsonaro
Since the former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro (PL) lost the Elections 2022 for Lula (PT), its supporters have become more radicalized both in the physical environment and in the social networkswhich culminated in anti-democratic acts in Brasilia on Sunday (8).
The coup attacks have widened the debate on the former president’s responsibilities on social media or whether to omit or even support the radical reactions of his fans, as happened with the former president of the United States. Donald TrumpWhen scammers stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At the time, the platforms blamed Trump for inciting acts that attacked the country’s democracy and suspended their networks. The Twitter blog announced a statement at the time informing of the permanent suspension of Trump’s account, claiming that the recent tweets from the account and the context surrounding them incited violence.
The same happened with the Facebook and other social networks as well, which have also suspended Trump profiles indefinitely. At the time, founder Mark Zuckerberg said that as a result of his support for protesters who stormed the US Capitol, “the American president would be suspended from office. Facebook and Instagram indefinitely and at least until the end of his term.”
Bolsonaro, in addition to not expressing himself publicly about the defeat, only updated the description of his social media profiles this Friday (13). Until Thursday, he was still using the phrase “Capitão Paraquedista do Army Brasileiro. President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Candidate for re-election with the number 22”. Now he defines himself as “38th president of the Federative Republic of Brazil”.
What differentiates Trump and Bolsonaro on networks
Two factors influence and differentiate the actions against Jair Bolsonaro and Trump. On the one hand, the American has openly called for rigging the presidential election in which he was defeated. Bolsonaro has already done it in interviews and lives on Youtube when he was still in office, but after the defeat he maintained a discreet and ambiguous attitude.
Another difference is that the invasion of the Capitol took place when the president of the United States was still in power, unlike the invasion of Brasilia, which took place when Lula took power.
However, for some supporters, the fact that Bolsonaro did not openly acknowledge defeat may have influenced supporters. The leader of the PSOL in the Chamber of Deputies, Sâmia Bomfim, has called for the blocking of the former president’s social networks. He announced the move via Twitter.
As leader of the PSOL, I will ask for Jair Bolsonaro’s social networks to be blocked in the face of yet another coup demonstration. During the night, the former president posted a video with fake news about the elections. We will also strengthen our demand for the preventive arrest of the fascist. NO AMNESTY!
— Samia Bomfim (@samiabomfim) January 11, 2023
Sâmia refers to a publication made by Bolsonaro last Tuesday night (10), in which a misleading Facebook post by Bolsonaro claimed that Lula was not elected by the people, but chosen by the electoral service together with the ministers of the Supreme Court and the TSE (Higher Electoral Court). The post quickly went viral on social media and was deleted shortly after.
How can the networks deal with Bolsonaro from now on?
For the lawyer Camila Studart, vice president of the OAB Santos Privacy and Data Protection Commission, since Lula’s inauguration as head of the federal executive, Jair Bolsonaro must present himself on the internet as a former president, which is what he is.
“Several consequences may arise from this act, both civil and criminal. He is under investigation and doing so is even more harmful, as it strengthens the charges against him and defending him becomes increasingly difficult ».
According to her, this act on extremist minds (and this applies to both the right and the left) can encourage criminal acts. Even Bolsonaro could be called upon to assume this responsibility.
Studart explains that Bolsonaro had a very expressive vote and must understand that his strength also carries responsibility. “This is an extremely critical scenario for Brazil that weakens us as a people and as a nation,” he assesses.
As Rogério Passos, social network specialist and CEO of the digital marketing agency Link3 pointed out, technically all social networks have a mechanism to analyze reports of fraud or fake news. “As we have seen in the United States, the suspension was made on the day of the events without any authority requesting it,” she said.
The STF and the TSE, through Minister Alexandre de Morais, responsible for an investigation into fake news, have already suspended several accounts during the electoral period, such as those of Pastor André Valadão and federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP).
“It happens that every social network has its own internal policy regarding the suspension of accounts and we don’t have clear laws on the matter,” continues Passos.
“Account removal can be done by decision of Meta (in the case of the video contesting the election result), if it understands that the user is violating its guidelines, or by means of a court order,” he said studart.
In the case of Donald Trump, the measure to exclude his accounts came from the social networks themselves. The report tried to contact Telegram, Twitter and Meta (responsible for the Whatsapp, Facebook And Instagram) to find out what Jair Bolsonaro’s future would be on platforms, but as of this posting there was no answer.
Judicial or platform liability?
Although many people think that social networks are “lawless land”, it doesn’t work like that. With the large adoption of citizens to digital media, it is to be expected that these digital spaces will be regulated without interfering with the freedom of expression.
However, even though regulatory frameworks such as the Civil Rights Framework exist for the Internet, which encourage freedom, diversity and plurality on the Internet, inspection in these places does not always work. Those who violate the established rules, both the legislation of each country and the platforms, can be punished.
“THE regulation it was made, for the most part, by the same companies that own the platforms, but I think both (justice and the owners of the companies) should work together and I think that the population should also participate through a public consultation,” Passos said.
Studart believes that the community guidelines, as well as their terms of use and policies, are the sole creation and responsibility of the platforms (whether Meta, Google, Twitter or any other).
“They have to observe local legislation, but not limit themselves to it, being able to create organizational mechanisms, as long as this does not affect the rights of their users (such as arbitrary bans, automated decisions and lack of defense possibilities, as we often see),” he said .
However, the lawyer underlines that the entire legislative process must follow the provisions of the Constitution.
Passos, on the other hand, states that “as long as the political and judicial bodies do not move, the platforms will follow in the most convenient way”.
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Source: Terra
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
