Opinion – Helio Beltrão: Fake news PL became the mainstay of big tech regulation

The PL 2630 of fake news is on the way to completion, which may go to the Chamber’s plenary soon. Led by communist deputy Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), the original text, already awful, as I mentioned in a previous column, was disfigured in these two years of discussion. It became a great basket to regulate the big techs and left fake news in the background.

With an updated nickname for PL of “freedom, responsibility and transparency on the internet”, it covers very wide interventions. I prefer to call it PL x-everything. The text was forged by a “working group” apparently handpicked by the rapporteur without respecting party proportionality. Given the scope of interventions without society being informed about how it affects their daily lives, it will be disastrous if converted into law.

The text requires transparency with an unbelievable degree of detail, such as explaining how the rules of use are formed, in addition to 12 other diverse requirements. It goes far beyond thoughtful transparency recommendations from the content moderation known as the ‘Santa Clara Principles’.

It also equates social networks with search engines. Google and DuckDuckGo, among others, are for us to find information already available on the internet. There are no terms of use, login or content moderation. They are tools to fight bad information.

PL also regulates moderation of posts, blocking and removal of accounts. It regulates all advertising, not just political advertising. It forces the custody of all posts on social networks for one year, which sets up excessive data collection and risks to users’ privacy.

Among several controversial and harmful articles, the one that regulates those called journalistic matters with a small photo, title and subtitle stands out. The text proposes the obligation that these headlines are paid, that is, social networks are obliged to pay for the vehicles that generated them. The measure is analogous to forcing newsboys to hide the covers of newspapers on newsstands, unless they pay for it.

Vehicles usually put a paywall on their articles, that is, only subscribers have access to the full text. A good part of the vehicles consider that the free dissemination of the calls for articles of their authorship on social networks is beneficial. In Europe, Facebook and Google are responsible for driving more than 80% of external traffic from various news outlets.

To begin with, comes the question of what constitutes journalistic content. Will the legislator consider the Diário do Centro do Mundo and Free Tuesday as journalistic vehicles? Why not? Will a state bureaucrat determine what is ‘acceptable’ journalism?

Additionally, the ban on disseminating excerpts can lead to a drastic reduction in the circulation of news from secure sources. After all, it is easier for networks to stop circulating the sections than to pay.

Finally, it could create market reserve for large vehicles at the expense of small ones. Networks will be prohibited from circulating if they do not have a contract. It is less laborious and costly to settle with the big ones than to close contracts with small scattered vehicles. The latter will be out of the game and internet users will have restricted access only to the mainstream media.

Yesterday’s tortoise included in the rapporteur’s vote is Article 7, which kills the networks’ business model and destroys online advertising. Control of data by users (opt in) is exchanged for a general ban. With PL 2630, the user, even if he consents, will not be able to see advertisements on his network.

The x-tudo prepared by Orlando Silva is not ready yet. Arthur Lira (PP-AL) can put a brake on fixing it, or it will be a victory for the obstinacy of excessive regulation that hinders Brazil.