File photo of Google logo | Photo Credit: Reuters
The Brazilian government objected to Google LLC on Tuesday. campaigning against a Internet Regulation Bill to crack down on fake news and ordered the American company to change a link on its search engine to Brazil.
Proposed legislation to punish companies that don’t report fake news was due to be voted on in the lower house of Congress later on May 2, but its fate is uncertain due to resistance from conservative and evangelical lawmakers, who have sided with big tech firms against it. have taken. Government and its allies.
Justice Minister Flavio Dino said Google had two hours after being notified to replace a link on its search engine that links to content that argues against the regulation bill and asked readers to vote their representatives against it. Insists to call.
Google removed the link minutes after Dino warned it would face a fine of one million reais ($198,000) per hour if the company did not comply.
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The minister said, “What is this? Editorial? This is not a media or advertising company.”
“What we’re avoiding is private, covert, disguised, unacknowledged censorship,” he said at a press conference, adding that Google was trying to undermine the debate in Congress.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bill 2630, also known as the Fake News Law, forces Internet companies, search engines, and social messaging services to find and report illegal content, instead of leaving it to the courts, with penalties for failures to do so. imposes heavy fines.
Companies also have to pay content providers and copyrights on content posted on their sites.
Brazil’s proposal is shaping up to be one of the world’s strongest laws on social media, comparable to the EU’s Digital Services Act enacted last year.
Big tech firms like Google and Facebook say the bill is a recipe for disaster, was created too hastily and will have opposite consequences that reward those who post misinformation as the platforms are held accountable for posted content. has to pay. They also say it would jeopardize free posting services for users while allowing the censorship prevalent in authoritarian societies.
One of the authors of the bill, who will report it to Congress, Orlando Silva, a representative of Brazil’s Communist Party, said the law was needed to curb fake news that has poisoned Brazilian politics and influenced elections. Is.
“Fake news led to the storming of government buildings on January 8, and this created an atmosphere of violence in our schools,” he said. reuters,
The bill was fast-tracked in the lower house after a series of deadly attacks at schools that were reportedly encouraged by social media, and new articles added to the bill were not debated in congressional committees before being voted on. was done.
Google Brasil CEO Fabio Coelho wrote in a blog, “We need to debate Bill 2630 more deeply… We are committed to supporting news production and finding new ways to combat misinformation in Brazil “
Mr. Silva, the bill’s originator in Congress, said big tech companies were using their vast resources and reaching out to the Internet to campaign against regulation.
Mr. Silva said the original draft of the bill included the creation of a state agency to monitor illegal content, but was abandoned because of resistance in Congress.