Brazil’s Governments Amps Up Anti-Free Speech Tactics Ahead Of National Election
from the gotta-keep-the-public-in-check-if-you-want-to-keep-on-winning dept
The Brazilian government — under the “leadership” of Donald Trump Mutual Admiration Society member Jair Bolsonaro — has been steadily cracking down on free speech under the guise of saving the public from “fake news” and other misinformation.
Over the past few years, it has ramped up efforts to eradicate content and reporting that it calls “fake news,” a term that refers to criticism of the ruling party, criticism of the ruling party’s efforts, punching holes in official narratives, or debunking the ruling party’s favored conspiracy theories.
In early 2018, it handed over the job of policing social media platforms to the actual police. The federal police were given permission to bring guns to a word fight to ensure compliance with demands that anything the government declared “fake” be removed as close to immediately as possible. The federal police seemed to relish this new directive, stating that it would continue to police social media whether or not the proposed censorship law was passed by Brazil’s government.
Since then, even more mandates have been handed down to social media services to make it easier for the government to track and trace critics and dissidents. A 2020 “fake news” proposal would have forced service providers to collect and retain a ton of data and metadata indefinitely for examination by the government (which means the federal police) whenever it felt something was “fake” and/or (even more vaguely) threatened national security.
In 2021, the legislation was altered to remove logging requirements and the collection of users’ national ID information before allowing them to open accounts. While that aspect of the proposed legislation got a bit better, the rest of the “fake news” law got much, much worse. It mandated unmasking of users by social media services, granted the government permission to simply shut down troublesome parts of the internet to quell dissent, and allowed the government to pretend IP addresses alone were capable of accurately identifying users who spread so-called “fake news.”
Ahead of a runoff election between far right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and his opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s government has granted itself an expansion of censorship powers and increased its direct policing of social media content.
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) unanimously approved rules to maintain the integrity of the upcoming electoral process by fighting against the spread of misinformation that may compromise the fierce presidential campaign between far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as the elections overall.
The president of the TSE, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, declared that once the collegiate decides that a particular post contains disinformation content, it will be removed, together with all other identical publications. He emphasized that after “[v]erifying that that content has been repeated, there will be no need for a new representation or judicial decision, there will be an extension and immediate withdrawal of these fraudulent news.”
While the involvement of the court suggests an impartial review of alleged “fake news,” the increasing focus on what President Bolsonaro believes is fake news suggests something else. The court is here to serve the laws that are in place, rather than simply protect the citizens of Brazil from government overreach.
There is no carrot for social media services. Only a very expensive stick. Content the court declares illegal needs to be removed within two hours. Services face fines of $19,000/hour for every hour (I assume pro-rated fines are also in place) the content remains visible past that point.
The laws Bolsonaro thought might deter criticism of him and his party are now being used against him, which is its own form of justice, I guess. But it is also limiting political debate and appears to be restricting journalists from reporting on the candidates’ sordid pasts/presents.
The TSE has already ordered some disinformation videos to be taken down, including ones that say Lula consorts with Satan and Bolsonaro embraces cannibalism. The campaigns have also been ordered by the court to pull online ads saying the leftist will legalize abortion and the incumbent entertains pedophilia.
[…]
The Bolsonaro camp has complained that the TSE has told it not to run ads calling Lula “corrupt” and a “thief” because bribery convictions that put him in jail were later annulled by the Supreme Court.
Brazilian broadcasters have also said they have been prohibited from using the words “ex-convict,” “thief” or “corrupt” when speaking about Lula. The broadcaster lobby ABERT protested that such decisions were interfering with freedom of expression.
By contrast, Bolsonaro allies complain that the TSE has not stopped opponents from accusing the president of “genocide” for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that killed 680,000 Brazilians.
Fun stuff all around. An authoritarian is learning what terrible laws can do when you’re forced to allow your political opponents to avail themselves of the same (dubious) protections. Unfortunately, it’s not just the party in power or the party planning to take power by accusing opponents of cannibalism that are being constrained here. The fines and additional scrutiny are likely provoking proactive content moderation by platforms, which means content that isn’t technically illegal is being buried because it cuts too close the vague language of the law. And journalists are finding it more difficult to report on candidates because the court has declared some words off limits.
Even if Bolsonaro is finding himself a bit hamstrung by his own legal mandates, he at least has to be happy it’s resulted in a pretty effective chilling effect on social media services and journalism outlets. Not every win is a blowout. But a win, no matter how ugly, is still a win.
Filed Under: brazil, elections, fake news, free speech, jair bolsonaro