For all the controversy it generated in the U.S., Mark Zuckerberg¡¯s decision to loosen content moderation on Facebook and other Meta Platforms products is also reverberating 6,000 miles away ¡ª in Brazil.
Meta¡¯s new policies are seen with ¡°great concern¡± by the authorities, Brazil¡¯s Attorney General Office said after receiving a note from the company explaining the scope of the changes. Zuckerberg¡¯s recent announcement prompted an emergency confab in the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called the changes ¡°extremely serious¡± and raised them in talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Perhaps I¡¯m just talking my hemispheric columnist book, but Brazil is in many ways ground zero for Zuckerberg¡¯s sudden libertarian conversion and accompanying vows to restore free expression after ¡°too much censorship.¡± The country has been immersed in a complex fight against online disinformation and hate speech while building a tightly regulated digital ecosystem.
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