More than 50 left-wing intellectuals from around the world signed an open letter on Tuesday (17) condemning the fight waged by American billionaire Elon Musk in favor of freedom of expression in Brazil, which they call “Big Tech attacks on the country’s digital sovereignty.” In the document, the signatories say they are “concerned” about the battle between Musk and the Brazilian Judiciary, which resulted in the banning of the social network X in the country at the end of last month.
Among the signatories of the letter are Brazilian intellectuals such as university professor (Federal University of Ceará) and journalist Helena Martins, who was considered to be part of the Lula government’s transition team in 2022; and sociologist Sergio Amadeu da Silveira, professor at the Federal University of ABC, who stated last week in an interview with Agência Brasil that the country suffers from the “digital colonialism” of technology companies from the United States.
Among the foreign researchers who signed the document is Professor “feminist” Argentine Margarita Olivera, from the Institute of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and French economist Gabriel Zucman, called the “guru” of the Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, for his studies on taxing the super-rich.
In the letter, the researchers justify that X’s departure from Brazil, by order of the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes, occurred due to the non-compliance with judicial decisions that required the suspension of accounts of right-wing Brazilian users, classified by them as “extremists who participated in riots and occupied the Legislative, Judiciary and government palaces on January 8, 2023”.
Left-leaning intellectuals claim that the recent legal dispute with Elon Musk is part of a broader plan by Big Tech to “restrict the ability of sovereign nations to set a digital development agenda free from the control of US-based megacorporations.”
They also supported the Lula government’s intention to regulate social media. Among the objectives highlighted by the PT government is to force Big Techs to pay more taxes, which the signatories said was “fair.”
They also advocated holding digital platforms accountable for the “social externalities of their business models” which, they said, “often promote violence and inequality.”
The letter’s signatories accused Big Tech of supporting “far-right” movements and parties in democratic countries, such as Brazil. “The Brazilian case has become the main front in the evolving global conflict between digital corporations and those seeking to build a democratic, people-centered digital landscape focused on social and economic development.”
The document also pressures the UN to develop a transnational regulatory plan for access to and use of digital services.
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