Explaining Brazil #253: Threads of concern?

Since being bought over by Elon Musk, Twitter’s reputation as the out-and-out number one microblogging platform has been treading shaky ground. Bugs, instability, a paid verification system, and viewing limits have pushed some users away, with Musk himself admitting that the social media has lost 50 percent of its ad revenue. And then the microblog alternatives arrived: Mastodon, Koo from India, Bluesky, and, on July 5, Threads.

Released by Meta, the same company behind Facebook and Instagram, Threads exploded to 100 million users in its first five days, and is already the second-most downloaded app in Brazil. 

But, data protection experts warn that, in the rush to sign up, users may have hastily given their consent to hand over a wealth of private data to Meta, and there’s a suggestion that it could be against Brazilian law.

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In this episode:

• Marcela Mattiuzzo is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of São Paulo, a Yale visiting researcher, and a partner at law firm VMCA. She is also a columnist for The Brazilian Report.

Background reading:

• Brazil ranks second in downloads of Threads, which requires access to far more personal data than its competitors. Brazil’s data authority said it will continue to evaluate the platform’s compliance with local laws
• Marcela and Euan mention the so-called “Fake News Bill.” Listen to Episode #243: Why the world should pay attention to Brazil’s ‘Fake News Bill.’
• The House fast-tracked the Fake News Bill, which stiffens regulations on social media and tries to make platforms liable for third-party content that is monetized. But the Big Tech lobby managed to keep the text from going to a floor vote.
• Earlier this month, Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) issued its first fine against a company for failing to comply with the country’s data protection law.
• Public school students had their data sent to advertising companies by government platforms — the biggest victims of cybercrimes in Brazil, says a Tenable survey.
• Read Marcela Mattiuzzo’s debut op-ed on The Brazilian Report: New regulation only the first step for crypto assets in Brazil. A new decree creates regulations for crypto asset operators in Brazil, but discussions about the fine details of these new rules are far from over.

Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at podcast@brazilian.report

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