The judicial review comes a month after the same court forced Elon Musk's X platform to obey rulings aimed at battling online disinformation.
That issue has taken on heat in recent days in Brazil, with federal police accusing far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro and allied officials of using social media disinformation as part of a 2022 "coup" plot against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, then the country's president-elect.
The alleged plot involved using online posts to undermine public trust in the electoral system to justify Bolsonaro holding onto the presidency after Lula defeated him at the polls. Bolsonaro says he is innocent.
The Supreme Court's deliberations in the cases are not expected to be concluded until sometime next year.
One key point it is looking at is whether social media platforms can be fined for illegal content posted by users.
Another is whether the platforms should themselves be required to monitor and remove any illegal content without a prior court order to do so.
The court's rulings will become precedents that will have to be applied generally to all social media platforms operating in Brazil.
Brazil -- many of whose 216 million inhabitants are heavy users of WhatsApp and Facebook -- does not have legislation in that area.
Global social media networks, however, already have to abide by laws in the EU against illegal online content, under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), which could guide them in terms of Brazilian compliance.
One of the Brazilian Supreme Court's judges, Alexandre de Moraes, in August ordered Musk's X be blocked across the country for failing to comply with a series of court orders against online disinformation.
On October 9, the platform was allowed to resume activities after paying around $5 million in fines and deactivating the accounts of several Bolsonaro supporters accused of spreading disinformation and online hate speech.
The court's presiding judge, Luis Roberto Barroso, told AFP that "digital platforms... open paths to disinformation, hate, deliberate lies and conspiracy theories."
He added: "In the whole democratic world there are debates about protecting free speech without permitting everyone to fall into a pit of incivility."
He pointed to the European Union's DSA as a form of regulation "that seeks a point of ideal equilibrium".
Brazil, in his opinion, should carve out its own regulation "with a minimum of government intervention where it comes to freedom of thought, while preventing increased criminality and inciting violence."
Spanish media lawsuit against Meta to start in October 2025
Madrid (AFP) Nov 27, 2024 -
A Madrid court set Wednesday an October 2025 trial date for a 550-million-euro lawsuit by more than 80 Spanish media against Facebook owner Meta for allegedly violating EU data protection rules.
EU rules oblige companies to obtain users' consent to create personalised advertising from their data.
Spain's main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, created "unfair competition" by "systematically" breaking the law from May 2018 to July 2023.
Meta offered advertising spaces based on "an illegitimately obtained competitive advantage" to the detriment of traditional news media that respected the law, said AMI, which represents the owners of newspapers El Pais, El Mundo and La Vanguardia.
Meta's lawyer Javier de Carvajal told a preliminary hearing in a Madrid commercial court on Wednesday that the company denied any damage or violation of EU rules.
The court agreed October 1 and 2 next year as the dates for the trial with AMI and Meta Ireland, the firm's European headquarters.
The complainants' lawyer Nicolas Gonzalez Cuellar told journalists that Meta says personal data are not used for personalised advertising and that it gained no competitive advantage.
Spanish radio and television stations have launched a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons and are demanding 160 million euros ($169 million) in damages.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg dines with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Washington (AFP) Nov 28, 2024 -
Mark Zuckerberg joined Donald Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate Wednesday, with an advisor to the president-elect saying the tech billionaire "wants to support the national renewal of America."
The 40-year-old chief executive of Meta -- which owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp -- has been carefully trying to mend ties with Trump.
Both men have had a strained relationship over the years, with Facebook being among social media networks that banned Trump after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But on Wednesday, a Meta spokesperson said: "Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming Administration."
In a statement, the spokesperson added that it was an important time for the future of American innovation.
It was not immediately clear if billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who previously challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match fight, also attended the dinner, though he has frequently been present at Mar-a-Lago since the election.
Stephen Miller, Trump's incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, told Fox News on Wednesday that Zuckerberg "has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of, and a participant in, this change that we're seeing all around America."
"He's made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under President Trump's leadership," Miller said in a televised interview.
While treading cautiously in Trump's first term, tech titans were quick to laud the Republican's election victory this time -- with Zuckerberg among those who offered his congratulations.
Before the election, Zuckerberg stopped election-related philanthropy and Meta modified its algorithms to reduce political content.
Zuckerberg had previously contributed large sums to fund nonprofits working to support US electoral infrastructure during the Covid pandemic.
The donations had been seized upon by Trump after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, falsely alleging that they were part of a plot to swing the election.
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