The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes defended the regulation of social media platforms in Brazil as a way to combat the spread of speeches against democracy. For him, social networks “were used and allowed to be used” by the extreme right, leading to episodes such as the destruction of Praça dos Três Poderes on January 8 by coup leaders. The speech took place during the event “The STF and the defense of democracy”, promoted by the FHC Foundation.
“We cannot let this pass without agreeing again on the degree of responsibility. All regulation has to be based on a single rule, that what is valid in the real world is valid in the virtual world. Freedom with responsibility”, he stated.
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For the minister, the extreme right “dominates the networks” and is “extremely competent” to understand and use to its advantage the working mechanisms of digital platforms, which were captured to attack democracy and the rule of law.
“The inability of the rest of society to at least balance is impressive”, he pointed out. “We cannot underestimate again. This is not over. The digital militias are not over. These fascist, hateful ideas have come out of the manhole. The manhole has been uncovered. The instruments that the Constitution authorizes institutions to have cannot fail to be used.”
The minister defended the accountability of the networks for the circulation of false information and that violate the rule of law in their channels, since they are not just passive instruments, but profit from this movement.
“If you own a warehouse — they say they are great depository of information — and someone rents out your warehouse and starts storing drugs, doing labs, drug trafficking, smuggling or kidnapping people and putting them there, you don’t you can be held responsible because you don’t know. Now, if you know and, not only do you know, but you increase the rent, you are making money on top of that, you are conniving, you are a participant in this. You cannot say that the drug is not yours, the contraband it’s not yours and the person kidnapped wasn’t you”, compared Moraes.
With information from the website Jota
Editing: Nicolau Soares
