Brazil's sovereignty must be protected, Lula says on Meta
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated on Thursday (Jan. 9) that he will convene a meeting to discuss the new rules introduced by the multinational Meta, the technology company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, regarding the operation of these social networks.
"What we really want is for each country to have its sovereignty protected. No single citizen—not one, two, or three—should think they can harm the sovereignty of a nation," said Lula at the Planalto presidential palace.
On Tuesday (Jan. 7), Meta's owner, US billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, announced new content moderation guidelines for the social networks and emphasized his intention to ally with the government of US President-elect Donald Trump to pressure countries seeking to regulate the digital environment. Among the changes are the termination of the fact-checking program that verifies the accuracy of information circulating on the platforms, the removal of restrictions on topics such as migration and gender, and the promotion of "civic content," defined as information with political or ideological content.
“I think it’s extremely serious that people want digital communication to avoid the same responsibility as traditional media. It’s as if a citizen could be punished for committing a crime in real life but not for doing the same thing digitally,” commented Lula on the impact of the changes.
So far, Meta's new moderation policy applies in the US, but it is expected to be extended to other countries.
