The Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumes this Wednesday (18) the judgment on the civil liability of social networks for illegal content posted by users. So far, the score in the case is 2 votes to 0 for holding the platforms responsible.
The trial began on November 27th and lasts for six consecutive sessions. In today’s session, the President of the Court, Luís Roberto Barroso, will read his vote on the issue.
The Supreme Court judges the constitutionality of Article 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet (Law 12,965/2014), a rule that established the rights and duties for the use of the internet in Brazil.
According to Article 19, “in order to ensure freedom of expression and prevent censorship”, platforms can only be held responsible for their users’ posts if, after a court order, they do not take steps to remove the content.
Ministers Dias Toffoli and Luiz Fux have already voted in favor of accountability. According to the ministers, platforms must remove, after extrajudicial notification, content considered illegal, such as messages attacking democracy, inciting violence, racism, among others.
If the understanding prevails, social networks must remove the content after being notified directly by those mentioned in the posts, that is, without waiting for a court decision.
The votes of nine ministers are missing. The expectation is that the trial will not be concluded this year. Due to the recess period, which begins on December 20, the trial should resume in 2025.
In the first sessions of the trial, representatives of social networks defended the maintenance of responsibility only after non-compliance with a court decision, as currently occurs. Social networks maintained that they already remove illegal content extrajudicially and that any prior monitoring would constitute censorship.
Understand
The STF plenary judges two cases that discuss the constitutionality of Article 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet.
In the action reported by Minister Dias Toffoli, the court judges the validity of the rule that requires a prior court order to hold providers responsible for illegal acts. The case concerns an appeal by Facebook to overturn a court decision that condemned the platform for moral damages for creating a false profile of a user.
In the case reported by Minister Luiz Fux, the STF discusses whether a company that hosts a website should monitor offensive content and remove it from the air without judicial intervention. The appeal was filed by Google.
