Friday, 26 June 2020

Voting delayed on Brazil's "fake news" bill after new text submitted but concerns remain

Photo: Palácio do Planalto/CC BY SA 2.0

A vote in the Brazilian Senate on a draft bill on disinformation that was scheduled to take place on Thursday 25 June has been postponed until next week after the text of the bill was amended at the last minute.

Despite the new wording of the bill, it will still require users to identify themselves when creating accounts on social networks, limits the number of times a message can be forwarded in messaging apps, requires networks to retain data on information shared through apps and contains confusing requirements obliging platforms to remove content that violates their terms of service.

Index calls on Brazil's legislators to open a multistakeholder task force to enable participatory discussion on how to respond to the challenges of disinformation while respecting Brazil’s international human rights commitments and existing human rights standards.

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The breakdown of attacks on media freedom during the Covid crisis

Our map of attacks on media freedom now includes 212 incidents from around the world. We have collected many more than this number but each one is verified by our team before it is put on the map.

The breakdown of incidents on the map is as follows:

Detention or arrest 51
Attacks on journalists 46
Journalists not being allowed to report 41
Crackdown on fake news 28
Legislation change to media freedom 17
Other attack 16
Social media restrictions 8
Government u-turn on media freedom 4
Surveillance 2

If you know of an attack on a journalist, photographer or cartoonist where you live, report it to us here.

Summer 2020 issue now available

Just how much of our privacy might we give away - accidentally, on purpose or through force - in the battle against Covid-19? This is the question we pose in the Index on Censorship summer 2020 magazine, available now. Tech journalist Geoff White looks at how drones are hovering overhead around the world. Issa Sikiti da Silva reports from Uganda on government spies that are doing the same job as the drones, only they seem to be targeting political opposition. Meanwhile, people around the world are being encouraged to download contact tracing apps. That might be ok when the app has safeguarded privacy, but more often than not what is happening to data is not being spelt out, something Indian journalists are worried about in terms of their safety and that of their contacts. Get the new issue here

The summer 2020 edition of our podcast features the world premiere of About Face, a new playlet written specially for Index on Censorship by actor and writer Katherine Parkinson (above left). The play covers life in lockdown, online dating in this strange new world and the loving relationship between a mother and daughter.

Parkinson, best known for her role as Jen Barber in The IT Crowd, also stars as Sarah in the play, alongside actors Harry Peacock (above right) as Damien and Selina Cadell, who appears regularly on the small screen, as Sarah's mother.

The podcast also looks at just how much of our privacy might we give away – accidentally, on purpose or through force – in the battle against Covid-19. We hear from Arturo di Corinto and Emma Briant.

Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.

We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.