Brazil’s underwhelming deal with platforms to fight misinformation

Seeking to curb the spread of falsehoods for political purposes online, Brazil’s electoral court system signed partnership deals with a group of major social media platforms this week. Tech giants Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, YouTube, and Kwai agreed to create filters against misinformation and to remove malicious content and inauthentic accounts.

Authorities are trying to avoid repeating the mistakes they made in 2018 and 2020, when they were left playing catch-up to groups firehosing the public discourse with disinformation. As Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said during an October trial, “everyone knows what happened in 2018.” He added: “If the same happens [in 2022], candidates will be impeached and transgressors will go to jail.”

With eight months to go until Brazilians go to the polls to vote for president, governor, and lawmakers (federal and state), electoral courts prepare for what Justice Edson Fachin calls “the biggest test democratic institutions have ever endured.” Next week, he takes office as the presiding justice of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) — which oversees Brazilian elections.

Justices celebrated the partnership deal with platforms as a positive step towards “free, fair, and safe elections.” But a look under the hood suggests that the courts may once again be left with scant means to monitor online discourse.

For starters, experts say the terms of the deal are far too generic. The rules — which expire on December 31 — are also less stringent than those put in place in the U.S. after the Capitol riots in January of last year. 

These include supporting awareness around information from electoral courts, the creation of channels...