Brazil electoral authority approves rules to curb online political disinformation News
Brazil electoral authority approves rules to curb online political disinformation

Brazil’s national electoral authority Thursday approved rules to limit online disinformation, targeting “the systematic production of misinformation, characterized by the persistent publication of false or decontextualized information about the electoral process.”

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.”

The resolutions adopted aim at reducing the airtime of untrue information; Paragraph 2 of the resolution prohibits the “dissemination or sharing of facts known to be untrue or seriously decontextualized that affect the integrity of the electoral process, including the processes of voting, counting and counting of votes.” It also imposes a penalty of a fine of BRL 100,000 per hour of non-compliance, and after two hours after receipt of the notification, as was stressed by de Moraes who stated that “[o]nce the TSE has verified that content is defamatory, is insulting, is hate speech or fraudulent news, it cannot be perpetuated on the network.”

The resolution also prohibits paid electoral ads from being aired 48 hours before the vote until 24 hours after the election in line with Article 5 of Resolution 23,610 which prohibits the promotion of content on the internet during the election, except for those freely advertised.

According to Reuters, Brazilian broadcasters have complained that the resolution infringes media freedom and freedom of speech because prevents constructive criticism of the regime and other contestants saying they have been barred from, for example, using the words “ex-convict,” “thief” or “corrupt” when speaking about leftist challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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