Brazilian Senate aprpoves the Fake News Bill of Law.
On June 30, 2020, the Senate approved the Bill of Law No. 2630/2020 (“Fake News Bill of Law”), which aims to combat the creation and dissemination of fake news on social networks. The sharp margin of 44 votes in favor and 32 against demonstrates the resistance of several parliamentarians and representatives of civil society, which culminated with the rejection of several topics initially proposed.
The project foresees measures such as the confirmation of the users’ identity through a legal and valid document in the national territory, in case of a complaint that proves that the account is inauthentic or automated. Furthermore, providers will have to develop systems to detect fraud in registration and illegal use of accounts, to eventually exclude the “robots” (automated accounts for content distribution).
Additionally, the messaging application companies must limit the number of messages sent and the number of members per group. Such companies should check if the user has authorized their inclusion in the group or in the transmission list, as well as disable automatic authorization for inclusion in groups and transmission lists, in order to reduce false messages.
Regarding institutional accounts, the government bodies must edit the internal standard of social communication and offer a mechanism so that the citizen can request the review or removal of posts in public accounts. Also, they must provide data on hiring publicity and advertising services in the transparency portals.
After the approval of the Senate, the Bill of Law will be forwarded for analysis in the Chamber of Deputies.
More information available in Portuguese at: https://veja.abril.com.br/politica/em-derrota-para-o-governo-senado-aprova-texto-base-do-pl-das-fake-news/