Renata Mielli states that platforms “improperly interpret” the legislation so as not to be responsible for content
Renata Mielli, coordinator of CGI (Internet Steering Committee), said that social networks use undue interpretations of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet to justify their actions. According to her, article 19, the target of action by the STF (Supreme Federal Court), “has not lost its importance.”
The article says that internet application providers only respond civilly when they fail to comply with a court order to remove content. “What creates problems for us is that new internet applications are outside the scope of the Marco Civil”, he stated in an interview with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo published on Monday night (April 22, 2024).
Social networks often argue that they are intermediaries for third-party content. According to Renata, this is a “misinterpretation” of the Marco Civil da Internet, since “these platforms are not neutral intermediaries”. She stated: “These platforms are content curators. At that time [em 2014, quando o Marco Civil foi aprovado]that wasn’t very clear.”
And he added: “Social networks are internet applications that go beyond simple intermediaries. They do not fit within the meaning of the word set out in the Marco Civil da Internet. These companies are content managers, because they define priorities through their own criteria and boosting algorithms – economic resources are used to boost content. They curate the content.”
Renata said that platforms resort to “offices with the best lawyers in Brazil who interpret existing legislation to your benefit”. She stated: “That is why this interpretation of the Marco Civil is so discussed. Because these companies are also betting on the interpretation for their benefit of an article that should not benefit these platforms”.
There is an action in the STF that deals with excerpts from the Marco Civil da Internet. Renata said that, if the Supreme Court judges article 19 unconstitutional, “another problem of legal uncertainty arises”.
According to her, the National Congress “need to discuss what the direction will be” of the debate on the regulation of social networks. For the CGI coordinator, “platforms need to have some degree of responsibility” over the “content that circulates inside“, what “needs to be resolved with specific legislation”.
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