The accountability of digital platforms and the spread of harmful content: regulated self-regulation and the Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet Bill

Abstract

Faced with a scenario in which digital platforms are the stage for the propagation of harmful content, as well as their business model generates profit from user publications, the debate about a new accountability of application providers emerges. In that way, the work aims to study the proposal of regulated self-regulation present in the Bill of Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet, questioning: is the model of regulated self-regulation enough to restrain the problem of the propagation of harmful content on platforms? Using a hypothetical-deductive approach and the functionalist and comparative procedure methods, the article aims to understand the dynamics that occur on platforms and compares the recommendations made by the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil (CGI.br) and the Bill, in order to to understand if the problems can be addressed by the legal provision, as well as if the CGI.br guidelines were observed - all using the techniques of bibliographical and documental research. It is concluded that the regulated self-regulation model is partially sufficient to respond to the propagation of harmful content and that the Bill does not face important issues, as well as, in other respects, added little to what was already provided for by law. Furthermore, there are discrepancies regarding the understanding of the CGI.br and the final text of the Bill, and some indications established by the Committee had been met by the bill but were withdrawn after parliamentary debate.