The Brasilian Federal Government Is Working To Ban Fake News

 

The Showdown

BRAZIL

Tech giant Google clashed with Brazilian authorities this week over a divisive new bill aimed at curbing “fake news” that is also coming under fire from other tech firms and social media platforms, the Financial Times reported.

The fight began when Google promoted an article on its homepage titled “This bill will make your Internet worse,” in reference to the proposed legislation.

The article prompted anger from Brazilian officials with Justice Minister Flávio Dino announcing this week that he has asked antitrust regulators to investigate “abusive practices” by the tech giant.

Dino also ordered Google to label the article as advertising and promote another advert that highlighted the benefits of the law, threatening to fine the company about $200,000 per hour if it failed to comply.

The firm later removed the link from its homepage and has not commented on the matter.

Google is one of many companies critical of the proposed “fake news” bill. Conservative lawmakers and free speech advocates have also condemned the proposal.

Brazil’s left-wing government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposed the bill to combat the spread of misinformation.

It aims to hold tech companies accountable for illegal or extremist content by imposing strict requirements on their handling of such material. If passed, the law would require social media platforms to remove criminal content and could hold them liable for any harm caused by paid content. Failure to remove posts quickly enough could result in fines.

The bill has been called draconian and criticized for being rushed through Congress without proper committee discussions. Critics fear it may be abused by special interests.

Even so, analysts noted that the bill comes at a time of growing concerns over the spread of misinformation through social media. The issue gained prominence after thousands of supporters of former conservative President Jair Bolsonaro stormed and vandalized the country’s political institutions in the capital earlier this year.

Many of the rioters repeated allegations spread in far-right chat rooms that the October presidential elections that Bolsonaro lost were rigged.