Supreme Court maintains 'TSE powers' against fake news

The majority of ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), meeting this Tuesday (25), understood that there is no censorship on the part of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) when determining more severe measures to combat fake news and websites that disclose. The 7 ministers accompanied the rapporteur, Édson Fachin, who rejected the Attorney General's Office's allegation that there could be censorship by the TSE.

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Marina Izidoro

October 25, 2022 12:22 AM

In the trial, which should end on Tuesday night (25), ministers Luís Roberto Barroso, Gilmar Mendes, Dias Toffoli, Ricardo Lewandowski, Alexandre de Moraes and Cármen Lúcia accompanied the rapporteur. The topic is being analyzed in an extraordinary session in the virtual plenary, which judges the attempt by the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, to overturn sections of the rule approved by the TSE in the final stretch of the elections.

TSE expands police power to stop fake news

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) expanded the Court's powers to remove false news and speed up the deadline for them to be taken down. The text approved today (20) allows the exclusion of content already classified by ministers as fake news and which has been republished on social media. “Once the TSE verifies that the content is defamatory, insulting, hate speech or fraudulent news, it cannot be perpetuated on the network,” said Moraes.

The PGR's claim is that “the 'temporary suspension of profiles, accounts or channels maintained on social media' (art. 4) characterizes true prior censorship, since there is a presumption that such virtual environments will be used to disseminate false content ”.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, current president of the TSE, in his vote said that “freedom of expression cannot be expected to legitimize the dissemination of false information that undermines the democratic process and takes away from voters the free power of self-determination in the electoral process ”.

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Fake news: creativity at full proof

It's not news to anyone that fake news has taken over the electoral campaign, especially in this second round of elections. This has already led the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to take a series of measures, including giving platforms a two-hour deadline to delete misleading content, under penalty of a fine of R$100. Furthermore, the president of the TSE, minister Alexandre de Moraes, has already announced that he intends to meet with Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and Lula (PT) to curb this type of content. See what the 'fakeiros' on duty have already done.

This post was last modified on October 25, 2022 12:57 pm

Marina Izidoro