Supreme Court signs agreement with Big Techs to combat disinformation in social media

Supreme Court signs agreement with Big Techs to combat disinformation in social media

Last Thursday (6), representatives of some digital platforms and social networks, such as TikTok, YouTube, Meta, Microsoft, and Kwai, signed an agreement to join the Supreme Court’s Program to Combat Disinformation. The program was created in 2021 to combat practices that affect people’s trust in the Supreme Court, distort or alter the meaning of decisions and put fundamental rights and democratic stability at risk. It therefore focuses on developing projects, actions, and products with various partners to disseminate correct information and explain the workings and competences of the court more clearly.

On the occasion, the president of the Court, Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, announced that he hopes ‘this agreement is the beginning of a co-operative relationship between the judiciary and digital platforms in tackling one of the worst epidemics of our time, which is the epidemic of disinformation and the spread of hatred. I hope it’s a partnership that bears fruit and helps us make a better country and a better world.”

From this perspective, the program operates on two main fronts: organizational action and communication actions. Organizational action refers to holding regular meetings to monitor actions, developing, and acquiring IT resources to quickly identify disinformation and hate speech practices, and working closely with public and private institutions, investigative bodies and verification agencies, as well as holding events and seminars to combat disinformation and hate speech.

The communication actions are based on three axes: i) media literacy to train civil servants, outsourced workers, journalists and digital influencers in identifying and combating disinformation and hate speech; ii) challenging fake news through a virtual page aimed at debunking rumors about the Court and its members; and iii) valuing the STF, with the creation and continuous dissemination of materials for different audiences, with the aim of spreading truthful information and generating positive engagement about the Court.

Mr Barroso also spoke of the difficulties of making progress in the fight against disinformation without the cooperation of digital platforms. He emphasized that ‘this is an administrative partnership, a partnership for media education. It has nothing to do with any case before the Supreme Court. It has no jurisdictional connotations whatsoever”. With the signing of the agreement, the companies commit to promoting educational and awareness-raising actions about the negative effects of disinformation.

Information on the agreement can be accessed via the link: https://portal.stf.jus.br/noticias/verNoticiaDetalhe.asp?idConteudo=545797&ori=1

Note: For quick release, this English version is provided by automated translation without human review.