The Law 11.211/2015, known asECA Digital has come into effect.The bill, which provides for the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment, became a focal point in March of this year and was subject to intense social media mobilization. The law, which aims to protect minors online, sparked a fierce debate that influenced public perception.
This is the theme of theBdF InterviewThis Friday, November 26th, it hosts journalist Cris Tardáguila, founder and director of theLupa Agency,The text discusses the results of monitoring over 33,000 publications about the...ECA DigitalIn the first month of implementation.
According to Tardáguila, the incident involving the new legislation exposes how mass misinformation has brought risks to society. The monitoring process, she says, was through observation of Brazilian behavior on six social media networks and two instant messaging apps. The conclusion, in general, is that the central discussion about the protection of children and adolescents was pushed into the background.
“One of the things we’ve already learned inthe fight against misinformationis that Brazil has a habit, due to polarization, of leaving aside discussing the message itself and instead debating a fictional version of it. What we saw with ECA Digital was exactly that. As soon as the law is sanctioned, a massive amount of incorrect interpretations about the law are produced, and then what happens? The population gets engaged in a debate that’s not based on the letter of the law. So, they start debating things that aren’t actually provided for in it,” affirms Tardáguila.
She also points out that influential figures in Brazil’s public debate shared excerpts from other laws, likely without realizing that an article or paragraph being promoted wasn’t part of the sanctioned law. “It creates an environment of digital argument and polarization that distances public conversation from what is truly at the heart of the law,” she reports.
Cris Tardáguila compares what happened with ECA Digital to the movement regarding the PL (Bill) on Misogyny. In both cases, according to her, ignorance breeds fear, which ultimately fuels misinformation.
"Emotions are the most commonly used fuels for the spread of misinformation. And in the case of the Digital ECA, all the emotions used, fear was the predominant one. So, in fact, it pushed the idea that the Digital ECA would be the digital AI-5. That is, a massive censorship effort on a segment of the population, even though this segment includes children and adolescents, and mass surveillance of what is said on social networks, the complete end of freedom of expression," he describes.
Among some absurdities created around the Digital ECA was the idea that online games would be banned, that children and adolescents would no longer have access to entertainment, and that Brazil's digital economy would be destroyed.
According to Tardáguila, this narrative construction of fear that generates misinformation is not organic. On the contrary, it is very well structured, with the use of technology and financing, so that some specific groups were more impacted than others.
"We see targeted campaigns. We see very clear campaigns directed at parent groups, spaces where religious people are present, groups that have been affected more attentively than others, which clearly shows that it is not organic, meaning it's not something inherent that would happen without much thought and organized stimulation. This is really concerning," he warns.
Check out the full interview below:
To listen and watch
TheBdF InterviewIt airs from Monday to Friday at 4 p.m., onRadio Brazil of Fact98.9 FM in Greater São Paulo.