Brazil considers regulating monetized online content

Brazilian government secretary for digital policies, Joao Brant said on Friday his government is considering regulating revenue-generating platforms.

Brant spoke to Reuters about the government’s plan to regulate content with the goal of halting spread of misinformation.

This step also aims to prevent the networks from being used for the dissemination and promotion of crimes and illegal content.

Lula da Silva’s government wants to hold platforms accountable for safeguarding the digital environment, the secretary told Reuters.

As a result, companies, not individual users, would be responsible for spreading hate speech or misinformation.

Given this plan is to be executed, amendments to the Marco Civil regulatory framework will be needed. Article 19 in the framework spares platforms any legal responsibilities pertaining to “damages resulting from content generated by third parties.”

The only exception, is when a court order demanding removal of content is issued.

Brant described the framework in place as one which “generates an incentive for platforms not to take care of the public space of debate.”

Monetized and promoted content is usually given more priority and reaches larger audience on digital platforms.

The potential of using digital platforms in manipulating audience has come to the forefront of discussions following investigations of Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica and Facebook were accused of participating in influencing U.S. 2016 presidential election outcome or UK Brexit referendum.