On Thursday, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that digital platforms are responsible for users’ content — a major shift in a country where millions rely on apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube every day.
The ruling, which goes into effect within weeks, mandates tech giants including Google, X, and Meta to monitor and remove content involving hate speech, racism, and incitement to violence. If the companies can show they took steps to remove such content expeditiously, they will not be held liable, the justices said.
Brazil has long clashed with Big Tech platforms. In 2017, then-congresswoman Maria do Rosário sued Google over YouTube videos that wrongly accused her of defending crimes. Google didn’t remove the clips right away, kicking off a legal debate over whether companies should only be punished if they ignore a judge.
In 2023, following violent protests largely organized online by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, authorities began pushing harder to stop what they saw as dangerous behavior spreading through social networks.
I’m unsure how I feel about this. I think whether this is beneficial or a net negative will end up depending entirely on how it is enforced.
What do you think could be negative about it?
It will make it extremely risky from a liability standpoint to operate any platform that allows user content.
The EFF has a bunch of writeups on these types of laws. This is the last of a 4-part series on them: Link
Fediverse operators would for example be extremely vulnerable to lawsuits, because almost none of them can afford teams of lawyers to deal with claims, true or not, that they failed to enforce content policies.
Depending on how the laws are written, anyone who could find a piece of objectionable content (which will vary by jurisdiction) could sue the platforms. This makes it very appealing as a route to shut down platforms you dislike, especially if they’re niche.
It consolidates power under large corporations like Meta and Xitter, who can afford to handle legal threats.
It also makes those large corporate platforms unappealing, which is a very good thing for those of us who have always said that federation is a half-step towards proper decentralization.
It works only for big tech. Small forums, for example, often can’t comply with such regulations.
Consider a Brazilian Lemmy instance. They will have to remove everything anyone complains about.
There’s no way to tell legitimate requests from illegitimate and as soon as volunteer admins are overwhelmed with requests, they will have to automatically delete any post that they are notified about.
All the power is on the side of the complainant. Nonprofit Lemmy hosts would go bankrupt in minutes trying to fight it.