Judiciary recess postpones impact of Facebook decision on fake news
Senate President Davi Alcolumbre's decision of postponing to August 15 the physical return of legislators to Congress is in accordance with the escalation of the pandemic in the Federal District, but hampers the deepening by the Joint Parliamentary Committee that investigates fake news of the information provided by Facebook. The company announced the removal of false profiles and accounts linked to the office of President Jair Bolsonaro and his sons.
Of the three fronts opened for the investigation of fake news, at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and the joint Congress committee, or CPMI, it is the Congress one that would have more conditions of going deeper into the information provided by Facebook.
This is because both the STF and the TSE probes were opened to investigate specific facts, whereas the CPMI would have more freedom to expand its investigation from the data that arise. Its probe is so broad that even encompasses the investigation of companies that make use of fake news to beat a competitor.
Senator Jean Paul Prates (Workers' Party, PT, of Rio Grande do Norte), a member of the CPMI, is in favor of resuming the hearings before the return of in-person work. He doesn't rule out new invitations to Facebook. "It is an opportunity for the company to explain the measures it has been taking and show its profit doesn't depend on improper use," he says.
Yet this is a decision that Mr. Alcolumbre must take, since the act that regulated the remote work also suspended the works of committees and councils. The Senate president, who wants to change the rules that prevent him from being re-elected to the post, is favored by the reduction of controversies caused by the remote work.
The rapporteur of the CPMI, Deputy Lídice da Mata (Brazilian Socialist Party, PSB, of Bahia), is preparing an intermediate report to organize the information collected by the CPMI so far. The committee started its works in September 2019.
During the CPMI works, representatives of social media had criticized the legislators' decision of demanding from the companies, in the bill of fake news that Congress is considering, the maintenance of a database of at least three months. Their representatives claimed the measure would increase the companies' costs, in addition to threatening the privacy of users.
With the information provided by Facebook, it is seen that its database on the matter actually goes back to as far back as the 2018...
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