Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree on Monday that temporarily bans social media platforms from removing many types of content, including misinformation about COVID-19 and the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Brazil’s new rules appear to be the first in the world to make certain types of content takedowns illegal under national law, even as other national governments around the world implement rules that force social media companies to take down more types of content proactively.
What do the rules say?
The decree targets what Bolsonaro’s presidential press office called “arbitrary removal” of content including accounts, profiles and posts. Under the new rules, tech companies must only remove posts if they fall under a narrow set of definitions including terrorism, threats of violence, sexual crimes and cyberattacks, unless they obtain a court order.
The measures would prevent social media companies from easily removing content including medical and political misinformation. Bolsonaro has repeatedly posted misinformation about COVID-19, and has claimed that voter fraud would be the only explanation if he loses the upcoming October 2022 presidential election—something pollsters say is likely. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all previously removed COVID misinformation shared by Bolsonaro.
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Read Full Story: https://time.com/6096704/brazil-social-media-rules/
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