Declaration by the Minister of Human Rights on holding big techs accountable was seen as aggressive; Almeida’s team says the position is “urgent”
The critical tone of Minister Silvio Almeida (Human Rights), when defending the accountability and regulation of big techs caused a reaction from Meta members.
On May 1st, he participated in the panel “Promoting fundamental freedoms and confronting hate speech online” in São Paulo during a G20 event. On that occasion, Almeida reinforced the need to establish stricter standards on the internet. “Social media is being colonized by those who need this lack of rule and absolute chaos to thrive”he declared.
In his view, control is important to ensure democracy. If nothing is done, the future of humanity will be at risk. “There will have to be regulation, otherwise we will all be threatened. This is a unique chance to avoid a catastrophe.”said the minister.
During the event, Almeida also spoke about “avoid a dark future” by holding the big techs. “If we do not act now to discuss and implement serious measures against disinformation, we will be leaving the future in the hands of those we combat. We need to understand the need for accountability to avoid a bleak future. History is in our hands and we cannot ignore it”he said.
Meta’s vice president of content policy development, Nell McCarthy, participated in the debate. She assessed that there is complexity on the platforms regarding what hate speech involves and argued that it was necessary to find a balance between freedom of expression and safety.
O Power360 found that the interpretation by the Meta team that the minister’s speech was “aggressive” It is “above tone” caused surprise in the ministry. There is recognition that Silvio Almeida’s statement on the subject was “emphatic, but far from aggressive”.
Internally, there is an understanding within the ministerial team that the minister’s speech is “urgent” and that the point of view of Meta members on Silvio Almeida’s statement “makes it very clear who wants to ban freedom of expression and make use of fake news”.
O Power360 He contacted Meta’s advisors to see if he was interested in commenting on the matter and regarding the internal evaluation at the Ministry of Human Rights, but there was no response until the publication of this report.
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