Facebook to appeal Brazil fine for not fully blocking Bolsonaro supporter accounts spreading ‘fake news’ News
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Facebook to appeal Brazil fine for not fully blocking Bolsonaro supporter accounts spreading ‘fake news’

A Brazilian high court judge imposed a 1.92 million reais ($367,710) fine on Facebook Friday for failing to internationally block 12 accounts of supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. On Saturday, Facebook announced that it had complied with the order, although a spokesperson stated that Facebook would appeal the decision to the full court.

In May, Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Tribunal decided to block 16 Twitter accounts and 12 Facebook accounts connected to Bolsonaro supporters who allegedly violated laws on hate speech. The accounts were linked to the spreading of fake news during Brazil’s 2018 election. The accounts were not removed until July 2020, when Facebook and Twitter blocked the accounts in Brazil. Bolsonaro filed a lawsuit in court in late July, demanding that the accounts be unblocked.

The accounts were only blocked in Brazil, however, not worldwide. Justice Moraes held that Facebook and Twitter had failed to comply with orders to block the accounts because they were still available with foreign IP addresses. He ruled that Facebook would face additional daily fines of 100,000 reais per day if it did not block the accounts globally.

Facebook issued a statement on Saturday that it had complied with the order, even though it called the new order “extreme.” Facebook stated that it would appeal the decision to the full court.

 

 

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