Justice Ministry published an ordinance that provides for the suspension or fine of social networks that do not remove content with promoting violence. The ordinance had already been announced by the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino. The measure is part of a government actions package to combat violence in schools, especially after the attack on a day care center that left four children dead in Blumenau (SC).
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New Norm
The norm brings a series of obligations to social networks. Among them: removal of content that advocates violence; submission of systemic risk assessment reports on the propagation of illicit content; inform about the risk of access by children and adolescents to age-inappropriate content, in addition to content considered illegal, and harmful; sharing with the police data that identifies the user or the place where violence against schools is posted.
The ordinance
The ordinance also empowers the National Secretariat for Public Security to determine that social networks prevent the creation of new profiles from IP addresses where illegal or dangerous activities have already been identified. Minister Flávio Dino stated that platforms will have up to two hours to remove content considered violent. Companies that control social networks can be fined up to R$ 12 million in case of non-compliance with the measures. In more serious cases, the service may be suspended, according to the minister.
Public notice of R$ 150 million
On Thursday (13/04), state and municipal public security agencies will be able to submit proposals for a public call notice that will release R$ 150 million to reinforce the fight against violence in schools. According to the Ministry of Justice, the purpose of the measure is to strengthen Public Security bodies to act in schools, with preventive actions and patrolling, in addition to monitoring and investigating possible crimes, including on the internet. Municipalities that have proposals approved by the Ministry of Justice will receive between R$ 100,000 to R$ 1 million. The states and the Federal District will receive from R$ 500,000 to R$ 3 million. Resources to fund the projects will come from the National Fund for Public Security.
Our Analysis:
The decision to regulate social networks through a ministerial decree, and not a law, raised concerns from specialists and civil society organizations, despite the emergency situation involving acts and threats of violence in schools. The very broad regulation of social networks is currently under discussion in the National Congress and is defended by the current government. For experts, the State should indeed look at this issue of schools with the urgency it deserves, but they are concerned that a single ministry adopts an ordinance that provides for measures such as the possibility of blocking the service. The biggest problem is the choice of legal regulatory instrument. That’s because the mechanism could be used to threaten democracy. Ideally, other bodies should be involved, including the Judiciary. Researchers argue that Brazil should create, like the European Union, a regulatory body with legal attribution to regulate platforms in the context of content moderation.
