A Meta, parent company of Whatsapp, Instagram, Threads and Facebook, announced the closure of its fact-checking program in the United States, that will be replaced by a "Community Ratings" system
With that, and is similar to platform X, by Elon Musk, big tech assigns the responsibility for content verification to users, that should evaluate publications, signal false information and make corrections
The change in the checking protocol, what, since 2006, was led by professional agencies, was justified by the company in an official statement, this Tuesday (7)
According to Patricia Peck, CEO of Peck Advogados, reference in Digital Law for 20 years in Brazil, the "return to roots" advocated by Mark Zuckerberg cannot be devoid of any responsibility
"Besides demonstrating alignment with the new American administration", the statement made by Zuckerberg makes it clear that this same understanding should resonate in other countries. It is necessary to take care to prevent political pressure from contradicting existing laws and compromising sovereignty in other States, affirms
In Brazil, for example, there is a constitutional provision for the right to freedom of expression, but it must be harmonized with others, how national sovereignty, privacy and civil and criminal liability for any excesses. In this sense, Peck points to the risks of greater polarization and the spread of prejudiced and criminal content
"Furthermore, there is a risk that community ratings may be used artificially to benefit or harm a potential political stance, ideological or other, explain
With the resumption of the judgment of the Civil Framework of the Internet, scheduled for the first half of 2025, the topic can be discussed by the ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF)
"As a rule", companies must comply with current laws and Brazilian court orders, regardless of the model adopted by corporations in their countries of origin. If we consider that there is a large volume of removals that will no longer be proactively taken down from the networks, "we tend to see an increase in lawsuits for content removal" concludes Peck
