Meta responds to Brazil that it will check the changes in the United States before expanding them around the world
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 79, does not personally browse social networks, but he has decided to take advantage of the fact that his country is a gigantic market for the company Meta — Facebook alone has 100 million active users among its compatriots, according to Reuters—so that their enormous concern is taken into account in the management of content, now that verification has been eliminated in the United States. The technology company responded by letter this Monday at the last minute, at the edge of the 72-hour period that the Brazilian Government gave it asking for explanations. Meta responds to Brazil, according to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, that the plan to replace professional verification with notes from other users, announced by Mark Zuckerberg, applies for now in the United States and that the change will be tested and fine-tuned “before any expansion to other countries.”
From the moment Zuckerberg announced the changes in a video in an obvious gesture of welcome to Donald Trump’s second term, the veteran Brazilian president showed his deep concern and took action. A ministerial meeting was held, which resulted in the order for the Attorney General of the Republic to ask the American firm, through extrajudicial means, for details of the changes.
Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, notes in the letter that the changes to community standards apply only to hate speech.
The General Counsel of the Republic has stated this Tuesday, in an official note cited, that “some aspects” of the letter with the technology giant’s response cause “serious concern” to the Government. Of particular concern are the changes in the policy for managing content that incites hatred. “The General Counsel and other ministries understand that the current terms of use, as well as the changes that Meta has reported, do not fit into Brazilian legislation and are not sufficient to protect fundamental rights,” the statement added. Reflecting the polarization, the opposition led by former president Jair Bolsonaro has received the new rules with enormous joy.
The Government of Brazil has organized a public hearing at the end of this week for experts to debate the situation and what the changes in the content moderation and verification rules of Meta networks anticipate. Over the past few years, Zuckerberg’s company has collaborated with Brazilian institutions and courts to limit the most harmful content.
The abundance of fake news, hatred and extremism that circulates on Brazilian social networks is a primary concern of the Lula Government and other high authorities such as the Supreme Court. Last year, the court suspended the service of X, the former Twitter, now owned by Musk, for 40 days because the tycoon refused to abide by its court decisions.
