Expert analyzes Telegram’s position on the PL of Fake News

Adrisa De Góes – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS (AM) – After Google display a counteradvertisement of the Bill (PL) of Fake News, it was Telegram’s turn to fire messages to users to criticize the legislative proposal, on Tuesday, 9. The offensive of the big techs, in opposition to the creation of the Brazilian Law of Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet, has gained space in the analysis of communication experts.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, Rodrigo Ratier, professor of Journalism at the University of São Paulo (USP) and columnist for UOL, said he sees a political move of the technology giants. For him, the attacks against the project are correlated to the positioning defended by right-wing congressmen in the National Congress.

“The platforms are playing a hard game, a political game, really, allying themselves with the most backward sectors in the Brazilian parliament. There are sectors of the extreme right working with fake news. The risk for them [technology globalists] is great, the risk that their business model will be unraveled”, says the expert.

Read more: Telegram distorts PL of Fake News and speaks of censorship and end of freedom of expression

Opinions

The mass message fired by Telegram to the network’s users in Brazil misrepresented points of the Fake News PL project. The platform says that the proposal allows the federal government to limit what can and cannot be said on the internet, besides saying that messaging apps will be forced to remove opinions considered unacceptable by the Executive.

However, the text of the proposal provides a model for the networks to take responsibility for the dissemination of false information, especially those that threaten the Brazilian democratic regime or encourage crime. For the platforms, a “moderation” service is defined, with the intention of curbing possible abuses, in addition, it will be up to them to adopt the policy, without government intervention.

Read more: Google backs off and suspends campaign against Fake News law

Ratier says that the propagation of information on large platforms is often based on the dissemination of unreliable content, including ads boosted on the network and that have dubious reliability. “If there was any illusion against the idea of platform neutrality, it is being demolished right now, I would say,” he adds.

MPF asks for clarification

Also on Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in São Paulo asked Telegram for an explanation about the campaign against the PL of Fake News. The prosecutor Yuri Corrêa da Luz signed the letter, classified as urgent. The platform will have ten days to manifest itself.

The MPF wants to know who in the company ordered the mass shooting and what is the section of the platform’s terms of use that allows such an approach to network users. According to the prosecutor, failure to comply with the determinations may constitute a crime of judicial disobedience.

“In this regard, it is noted that the information requested herein constitute indispensable technical data for the instruction of the public civil investigation in question, as well as the possible filing of any related public civil actions”, says an excerpt of the letter.