The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Luiz Fux, returned today (3) to affirm that the dissemination of known false information during the electoral period is a threat to the democratic system. For him, Brazil has instruments to fight “front” this risk.
“False information, now known as fake newsis that information that has no basis of veracity and directly affects the candidacy of another competitor, causing irreparable damage”, said Fux during a seminar on the topic held at the Supreme Court’s headquarters, in Brasília.
There is a legal framework in the country that allows accountability in the civil, criminal and electoral spheres, stressed Fux. “Brazil is a country that, taking care of its democracy, of the government by the people and for the people, frontally restrains the fake news”, added the president of the Supreme Court.
Fux stated that there is a need for “informational honesty” and that “citizens need to be well informed before expressing their opinion in relation to who they prefer to represent them”.
In his speech, STF minister Luís Roberto Barroso said that there is “a delicate moment in democracy”, and that authoritarian populism seeks to use “disinformation, hate, offense and conspiracy theories”.
The Supreme Court ministers participated in the seminar Fake news and freedom of expression, organized in partnership with the German Embassy, with a lecture by Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, judge of the German Constitutional Court. Minister Luís Felipe Salomão, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), and the German ambassador to Brazil, Heiko Thoms, also participated.
