Number of LATAM projects as of September 2021
| COUNTRIES | PROJECTS | |
|---|---|---|
| ARGENTINA | 24 | |
| BRAZIL | 28 | |
| CHILE | 1 | |
| COLOMBIA | 6 | |
| ECUADOR | 1 | |
| GUATEMALA | 1 | |
| MEXICO | 2 | |
| PARAGUAY | - | |
| PERU | 13 |
Topics of bills presented between May and July 2021
| Access to information | 26.13% | |
| Bullying | 5.3% | |
| Apologia | 5.3% | |
| Freedom of expression | 15.8% | |
| Freedom of the press | 10.5% |
| Pornography | 5.3% | |
| Privacy | 5.3% | |
| Protection of minors | 5.30% | |
| Reputation and honor | 15.8% | |
| Liability of intermediaries | 5.3% |
Topics of bills presented between May and September 2021
| Access to information | 26.13% | |
| Bullying | 5.3% | |
| Apologia | 5.3% | |
| Freedom of expression | 15.8% | |
| Freedom of the press | 10.5% | |
| Pornography | 5.3% | |
| Privacy | 5.3% | |
| Protection of minors | 5.30% | |
| Reputation and honor | 15.8% | |
| Liability of intermediaries | 5.3% |
31/08
The Ministry of Women, Gender Policies and Sexual Diversity of the province of Buenos Aires denounced Before the Public Defender's Office, a chapter of the series Dragon Ball Super for symbolic violence, considering that it showed the exercise of sexual violence by an elder towards a minor in which the violation of a girl was naturalized. In response, Cartoon Network and Warnermedia decided to pull the entire series off the air.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION GENDER VIOLENCE
14/09
On that date, President Alberto Fernández gave a speech and launched 25 public works in 14 provinces. Later that speech was slocated to the mobile application Mi Argentina, which is intended to allow citizens to manage procedures, take turns and access their personal documents. This generated various criticisms from civil society organizations, which criticized the use of a state application to carry out electoral advertising (especially in the framework of the primaries). The government expressed that it was a system error in the automatic selection of news and eliminated the publication.
ELECTORAL FREEDOM PUBLIC FUNDS
16/09
The Association for Civil Rights (ADC) identified a violation of privacy and personal data in the Catamarca vaccination portal, in the registration forms for the COVID-19 vaccine and the application to enter the province. The organization asked the Ministry of Health and the Secretariat of Modernization of Catamarca to take the pertinent measures to solve these failures and protect the sensitive information of its users.
PRIVACY PERSONAL DETAILS
23/09
The journalist Mercedes Ninci was condemned to pay compensation of $ 70.000 plus interest, for the moral damage caused to Guillermo Moreno, for false expressions, related to his private life in which the former official was linked to a recognized figure of the show. Although the defendant argued that it was a matter of "public interest", the judge of First Instance considered that it was an intrusion into her privacy, which exceeded the public interest, and therefore considered Ninci civilly liable because the reference romance "carries within itself (...) a disqualifying desire and penetrates, without a doubt, the intimacy of a couple relationship" and that "the press does not enjoy impunity but rather security in the role it performs"24/09
In the framework of a judicial investigation for a hack of the Federal Police in 2019, analyzed calls from a journalist from NOTICIAS magazine for a period of 2 months with knowledge that the telephone line was registered in the name of Editorial Perfil and that a job was being carried out for the purpose of writing and publishing a journalistic note. The case gained relevance on Twitter under the hashtag # LaGorraLeaks2.0.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
31/08
The Court of Justice of São Paulo condemned to the national president of the PTB, former federal deputy Roberto Jefferson, to pay R $ 50 thousand in compensation for moral damages against the judge of the STF, Alexandre de Moraes. The conviction was given because, in two interviews granted in May last year, Jefferson alleged that Moraes had been a supporter of the criminal faction of the First Capital Command (PCC). The accusation was considered false by the Court. Roberto Jefferson is in pre-trial detention under the "fake news investigation", as described in the August monthly newsletter.
REPUTATION AND HONOR
10/09
El São Paulo State Court of Justice (TJ-SP) He decided that the federal deputy Otoni de Paula (PSC-RJ) should compensate the judge of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes for calling him, in his social networks, "penis head", "egg head", "despot", "garbage", "sewer of the STF" and "scoundrel". The TJ-SP confirmed the decision of the court of first instance, which understood that “the criminal conduct of the accused (…) goes beyond the limits of the expression of thought and freedom of expression, since it humiliates, offends and directly attacks the honor and image of the author ”. The non-material damage determined in the first instance at R $ 70 thousand, however, was reduced to R $ 50 thousand, because the accused responded promptly to the court order by removing the questioned videos from social networks.
REPUTATION AND HONOR
14/09
The president of the National Congress returned provisional measure 1.068 / 2021, edited by President Jair Bolsonaro on 06.09., which changed the Marco Civil da Internet for the use of social media platforms. Political parties and congressmen had submitted requests to the Board of Directors for the matter to be returned as unconstitutional. The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) issued a public notice paying attention to the risks that the provisions of the Measure could cause on the maintenance of the intermediary's liability regime, legal uncertainty, among others. The same day that the president of Congress returned it, the Supreme Court suspended the MP, after several political parties challenged it. Several organizations have applied to be admitted as amici curiae in the case, including InternetLab, which argued that the provisional measure violated freedom of expression. The MP text [in English this article] it contemplated the rights and guarantees of users of social networks, in addition to specifying hypotheses in which "it is considered just cause" of content moderation, which includes nudity; commit, support, promote or incite crimes; violation of privacy, honor, image, intellectual property; among other. The MP also prohibited the moderation of content "that involves political, ideological, scientific or artistic censorship." And it provided sanctions for platforms that did not comply with the measure, which "will be applied by the administrative authority." After the rejection of the text, the president Jair Bolsonaro sent a bill, with the same wording as the MP, to be voted on in the national congress.
CONTENT MODERATION FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
15/09
The Chamber of Deputies approved the complementary bill 112/2021, that consolidates all electoral legislation and issues related to the resolutions of the Superior Electoral Court. Se approved an amendment on content moderation that clearly defines the advance publication of the terms of use of the platform applied for the electoral period and limits content moderation. The section that prohibited the use of algorithmic criteria for moderation or limitation of the scope of content "that imply political, ideological, scientific, artistic or religious censorship of candidates for political office" was eliminated from the bill. An amendment was passed about misinformation that unifies the definition of disinformation throughout the text as "facts known as false that cause serious attacks on the equality of conditions between candidates in the election or shame, discouragement to exercise the vote and delegitimization of the elections process." The crime of revealing and sharing false or seriously decontextualized facts was maintained. The text will now go through the Federal Senate.
DISINFORMATION VOTING FREEDOM
15/09
El Inspector General of Electoral Justice, He decided that a video and news released by the press will be added to Administrative Consultation 0600371-71 which would show that the demonstrations carried out on Independence Day (07/09) could have been financed by businessmen or politicians. The investigation was opened by the Electoral Court in early August, with the aim of investigating facts that may constitute abuse of economic and political power, misuse of the media, among other crimes, related to attacks against the electronic voting system. and the legitimacy of the 2022 Elections. Because of this, Minister Luis Felipe Salomão determined the suspension of the transfer of values from the monetization of social networks to channels and profiles dedicated to the dissemination of disinformation on the Brazilian electoral system.
VOTING FREEDOM
01/09
At the beginning of September, a bill of law that seeks to regulate digital platforms, initiated by senators from the Challenges of the Future Commission of the Senate in Chile. The proposal seeks to regulate the situation of digital service platforms that redirect their content to Chile, as well as their users in aspects such as data use, the emission of prohibited content for minors, freedom of expression and the right to be forgotten , in other aspects. The project understands by digital platforms "any digital infrastructure whose purpose is to create, organize and control, by means of algorithms and people, a space for interaction where natural or legal persons can exchange information, goods or services". The beginning of the discussion of this bill has begun to generate a debate in which several Chilean civil society organizations are rejecting the proposal because they consider that it contains several legal inaccuracies, which may be counterproductive for rights such as freedom of expression or generate situations of censorship, and that it does not consider the recommendations or guidelines on the matter of regulation on the Internet with a focus on the rights of bodies such as the Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONTENT MODERATION LIABILITY OF INTERMEDIARIES
05/09
In September, the first debate was held in the Senate of the bill that seeks to eradicate judicial harassment against those who exercise freedom of expression, also known as the "Anti-SLAPP" bill. The bill proposes that the judicial authorities can terminate the processes early when they realize that the purpose of the judicial actions is to intimidate and silence those who speak out. However, several congressmen declared themselves prevented, precisely because they were involved in legal actions against the media.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
16/09
The ICT Ministry backed out of its plan to invest 85 billion pesos to finance the economic reactivation and digital transformation of the media in Colombia, announced in February of this year. Without giving more information or explanations, the Ministry announced the early termination of the process, noting that none of the 354 participating media outlets met the requirements that had been established.
CONNECTIVITY
13/09
On July 12 of this year, the Legislative Directorate of the Congress of the Republic was presented to the law initiative entitled “Law to guarantee the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents against Gender Identity Disorders. Among its twelve speaker deputies, the current President of Congress, Allan Estuardo Rodríguez Reyes (“Official”) stands out. It was not until this 13/09 that this initiative was known by the plenary session of Congress, and therefore, publicly known. It has been transferred to three legislative committees: Human Rights, Education, Science and Technology and Government. Its explanatory memorandum indicates the need to include in the legal system, norms that constitute a legal instrument that guarantees the effective fulfillment of “the right of boys, girls and adolescents to self-identity according to their sex at birth and thus safeguard your identity and sexual indemnity ”. And already within the proposed regulations, among other provisions that, if they become effective, may not be compatible with international and regional standards on freedom of expression, the following is included: The obligation of the State's social communication media, as instruments of promotion, development of the social, spiritual, moral, physical and mental health of all children and adolescents, of qualify, classify and supervise all the information, shows, programs or material that is brought to their knowledge.
GENDER VIOLENCE GENDER IDENTITY
22/09
On August 5 of the current year, another law initiative before the Legislative Directorate, whose presentation to the plenary session of Congress took place on September 22, entitled "Open Data Law". It has as speaker the Deputy José Alejandro de León Maldonado (Legislative Block Podemos). It seeks to “make available to society freely a large amount of data from different organizations, mainly from the Public Administration or from those projects that have been financed with public money or created by a public institution and that society can use them and that in turn any person or organization can build new ideas or knowledge and contribute to innovation ”. Among the justifications included by the deputy rapporteur in the explanatory memorandum, is that of complying with the International Open Data Charter and improving the country's classification or ranking in international open data indexes (Global Open Data Index) ranks Guatemala in 56th place out of 94 countries, with a score of 28%.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION OPEN GOVERNMENT
07/09
R3D discloses that in August and September 2021, several complaints from users of the company were reported total play By virtue of the fact that they observed that the service provider carried out tests to provide access to internet service through open public networks using the users' modem. The company has clarified that said service does not compromise user information, nor does it degrade the service they receive. Totalplay did not seek the prior consent of any of the users for these tests.
PRIVACY
03/09
In August and September 2021, Mexican media they announced that "The former Secretary General of the Federal Police, Frida Martínez Zamora, diverted 65 million dollars destined to contract an intelligence information system in 2015 to the parastatal company of Israel, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (RADS)"
PRIVACY SURVEILLANCE
08/09
The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico resolved the amparo in review 308/2020 in which it indicated that it should “clarify and detail the criteria to which social communication spending should be subject, in addition to providing specific procedures and rules specific ”. The amparo trial was promoted by the organization Article 19 Mexico and Central America. The resolution is relevant because it recognizes the legitimate interest in legislative omissions and determines that the lack of clear allocation of spending on social communication violates freedom of expression and the right to information.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
19/08
The Executive Branch sent a bill of law which aims to promote transparency and financial inclusion. This project: defines the electronic means of payment and defines their unlimited cancellation effect throughout the territory of the Republic, in national currency; establishes a threshold or from which legal acts, denominated in foreign currency, must be carried out through means of payment that identify the parties under penalty of nullity; introduces a system of tax incentives for the use of electronic payments.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
27/08
A bill Raising the Penalty and Classifying Infidelity in the Foreign Service as a Crime, Provided and Punished in Article 314 of Law 1160/97 "Paraguayan Penal Code" This bill seeks to increase the sanction provided and punished in Article 314 of the Penal Code that typifies “Infidelity in the foreign service”: “1º Whoever, while fulfilling functions before a foreign government, a community of States or an interstate or intergovernmental body, fails to comply or fails to comply with an official instruction, submits false reports or takes steps Against the interests of the Paraguayan people, he will be punished with imprisonment from six to twenty years; 2 ° The person whose intervention in matters of international public interest commits acts to the detriment of the interests of the Paraguayan people will be punished with the same penalty. 3 ° The omissionate conduct that will cause the results provided for in paragraph 1 shall be punished with a custodial sentence of six to twenty years ”.
PUBLIC OFFICIAL DUTIES
08/09
A bill of law that expands and modifies articles of the Law Nº 642/95 of Telecommunications in its Title VIII- Operating Conditions. The project aims implement the national roaming system with which all companies that operate in mobile telecommunications will have the same coverage in national territory without implying additional cost to the user, giving the company with Paraguayan capital the opportunity to compete on equal terms with the others companies that provide cell phone service.
CONNECTIVITY
08/09
The executive director of the Peruvian Press Council (CPP) met with the President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, and invited him - together with the Press and Society Institute (IPYS), the Foreign Press Association in Peru (APEP), Transparencia Peru and Proética - to sign the statements of Chapultepec and Salta on freedom of speech and of the press. President Castillo only promised to study the Declarations.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
15/09
The journalist Hellen Meniz was battered by Franco Pomalaya, a member of President Castillo's press team, after the meeting that the president held with organizations of common pots. In the video published via Twitter, the journalist is observed bringing her microphone close to the president, when Pomalaya tries to remove it abruptly. IPYS and the College of Journalists demanded that the president stop the attacks against the press. The journalists' union warned that they could resort to international bodies if the violence against the press continues.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
17/09
The ruling parliamentary bench Peru Libre presented a bill of law that "proposes to declare of public necessity and national interest the fair and equitable distribution of the electromagnetic and radioelectric spectrum in radio, television and other communication media, and the transmission in the national territory." Article 4 provides that, “in the event of a declared emergency declaration, (…) the Executive Power may dictate temporary measures that must be complied with by operators, providers and users of telecommunications services. In addition, "it may temporarily assume the provision of certain services or the operation of certain telecommunications networks when necessary to mitigate the effects of the state of necessity and urgency." The text has been rejected by civil society organizations, including IPYS, for being manifestly unconstitutional, exposing the media to an “expropriation danger”, in addition to threatening their independence and freedom of expression.
CONNECTIVITY
