Justice Antonio Días Toffoli presented the vote, in which he gave his opinion on the regulation of digital platforms and against the constitutionality of article 19 of the civil framework of the Internet.

In the vote presented over three sessions, Días Toffoli defended that the platforms be held responsible after notification by the user or legal representative, as established in article 21, and not through a specific court order, as established in article 19. In this way, the platforms assume the risk of liability for the content from the moment they are notified and not only after failing to comply with the court order.

Another demand refers to the responsibility of providers of applications or Internet tools for the content generated by users and the possibility of eliminating content that may offend personal rights, incite hatred or spread fraudulent news based on extrajudicial notification.

“Communication service providers interfere predominantly in the flow of information and must answer for their actions,” said Dias Toffoli, who acknowledged that in these cases the content continues to be from third parties, but by recommending or promoting it to an indefinite number of users, the provider ends up becoming jointly responsible for its dissemination.

At the end of the vote, the minister called for the Legislative and Executive powers to develop and implement within 18 months a public policy aimed at confronting digital violence and disinformation.

The Internet Civil Framework Law, which came into force in 2014, functions as a kind of Constitution for the use of the virtual environment in Brazil, as it establishes principles, guarantees, rights and duties for users and companies.

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