CELE Legislative Observatory

News of legislative and regulatory activity, judicial and administrative decisions

ARGENTINA BRASIL CHILE PARAGUAY PERU ECUADOR COLOMBIA MEXICO GUATEMALA

Number of LATAM projects as of September 2022

COUNTRIES PROJECTS
ARGENTINA 7
BRAZIL 28
CHILE 3
COLOMBIA 14
ECUADOR 2
GUATEMALA -
MEXICO 13
PARAGUAY 2
PERU 2

Topics bills presented between August 2021 and September 2022

Access to information 6.9%
Bullying 10.3%
Apologia 5.2%
Freedom of expression 8.6%
Equality and non-discrimination 17.2%
Internet Access 1.7%
Privacy 1.7%
Protection of minors 15.5%
Reputation and honor 5.2%
Content moderation 5.2%
Gender Violence 5.2%
Indigenous rights 3.4%
Fake News 1.7%

Topics bills presented between August 2021 and September 2022

Access to information 4.8%
Bullying 9.5%
Apologia 4.8%
Freedom of worship 1.6%
Equality and non-discrimination 15.9%
Official advertising 4.8%
Fake News 1.6%
Protection of minors 14.3%
Reputation and honor 4.8%
Content moderation 4.8%

01/09

The right-wing legislator García Moritán presented anti-picket initiative to demolish the building of the Ministry of Social Development whose mural represents a symbol of Peronism. Faced with the initiative, plastic artists, urban planners and politicians they manifested their indignation and rejection of the bill. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION HISTORICAL MONUMENTS RIGHT TO CULTURE

02/09

Deputy Ramiro Gutiérrez, representing the Renovating Front, presented bill in the Lower House of Congress for the incorporation of the crime of assassination and homicide for political hatred to the Penal Code, as a result of an attack against Vice President Cristina Kirchner. In turn, since the events that occurred, multiple acts y hate speech against him promoting the death of the president. It has been tried misinformation to the Argentine population to delegitimize the violent act against them. 

HATE SPEECH PENAL CODE

12/09 

The Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP) issued public consultation about him Preliminary draft of the Personal Data Protection Law to learn about the content of the rule that is intended to be presented to the Congress of Argentina. 

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACCESS TO INFORMATION

13/09

The custodial sentence of 'Youtuber' Eduardo Miguel Prestofelippo known as "El Presto" is confirmed, to 30 days in prison for generating discriminatory and harassing speeches against Fabiola Yáñez. Additionally, you must carry out at INADI a workshop on gender violence and respect for women. 

HATE SPEECH HARASSMENT GENDER VIOLENCE

19/08

Alexandre de Moraes vs. businessmen. El Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Court (STF), authorized the search and seizure, as well as the violation of the secrecy of telematic data, of a group of businessmen who allegedly advocated a coup in WhatsApp conversations. The minister considered that the support for a coup was explicit in the conversations of 31.07, and indicated that, in addition, there was homophobic content, attacks against the press and journalists, and the coronavirus vaccine.  Moraes authorized the search and seizure of the electronic devices of the businessmen to evaluate the veracity of the messages. In addition, he ordered Google and Apple to make it easier to access and download the content of the defendants' accounts. On 14.09, the minister ordered the unblocking of the bank accounts of the entrepreneurs.

PRIVACY

23/08

Bolsonaro vs. TSE. The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and the Brazilian Communication Company (EBC) to withdraw the video of Jair Bolsonaro's meeting with ambassadors in which the president made accusations against the electronic ballot box. The Democratic Workers' Party (PDT), which requested the impeachment, alleged that the president "created an atmosphere conducive to the spread of all kinds of informational disorder" by stating that the electronic voting system is "receptive to fraud and invasions." . Minister Campbell Marques affirmed that the president's speech finds limits "in the protection of the image of the Electoral Justice (...) and of the electoral process whose main objectives are the guarantee of the normality of the elections, the legitimacy of the vote and democratic freedom». He also said that most of the video's claims have already been refuted by the TSE, and that the content spread on social media could characterize "abusive means of obtaining votes." 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONTENT MODERATION

25/08

Bill to render ineligible candidates who attack electronic ballot boxes and the electoral process. I know presented the Complementary Law Project No. 120/2022, which intends to disqualify from all positions in the government those who "repeatedly formulate, replicate and disseminate, without credible indications and evidence, accusations and suspicions about the integrity of the electronic ballot boxes and the electoral process as a whole." The justification for the project is that the disinformation directed at the electronic ballot boxes and the electoral process paves the way for "complacency with solutions of force and political violence, incompatible with the current constitutional order," and that the circulation of these accusations "must lead to the ineligibility of its promoters, in order to preserve the democratic institutionality of the country».

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

27/08

The TSE orders the withdrawal of publications with disinformation on fuel prices. The Minister Raul Araújo, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), ordered the withdrawal of the publications that spread audios falsely attributed to Aldo Rebelo, former minister of Lula (PT), on the price of fuel. The representation before the TSE was made by the Brazil of Hope coalition. According to the coalition, the defendants would have spread the false message that Aldo Rebelo would have blamed the PT governments and former president Lula for the increase in fuel prices, which would constitute irregular advertising on the Internet. In the decision of the precautionary measure, the minister said that "it seems, outright, that the contested publications, although in different formats, are false, because Aldo Rebelo did not record the contested audio, information that was confirmed by him in his profile of Twitter, on 24.05.2022, as well as by various verification agencies. It is, therefore, content produced to spread disinformation.” 

The minister granted the injunction for 8 posts to be removed, ordering Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Gettr to remove the posts within 24 hours. However, the magistrate did not agree to the request to identify other profiles that have shared the content.

DISINFORMATION DEFAMATION CONTENT MODERATION

28/08

[Disinformation] The TSE minister orders the removal of false publications about Lula. Minister Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), granted two precautionary measures for the elimination of posts that contain disinformation and negative electoral propaganda about former President Lula (PT). The two requests were made by the Brazil of Hope coalition, made up of the PT, PV, PCdoB, PSOL, Rede, PSB, Solidaridad, Avante and Agir parties, through negotiations with the TSE. The first objected to the publications of various profiles on social networks that published a photo of a man with Lula, stating that the boy was the brother of the man who stabbed President Bolsonaro in 2018.. The second representation, in turn, challenged publications from sites such as "O Antagonista", "Revista Oeste" and "7 Minutos", as well as José Fernandes Linhares Júnior's blog and Eduardo Bolsonaro's Twitter, which contained disinformation, linking the former president with the speech that "he wants to end the jobs of motorcycle messengers from Uber, iFood and similar apps"

The following week, the same minister ordered YouTube and Kwai to withdraw a video containing manipulated phrases of former President Lula. In the graphically doctored content, the former president allegedly said that he would "buy votes from 'Bahian voters' for R$10,00 and a mortadella sandwich." In one of the decisions, the minister argued that "For the content to be classified as disinformation electoral propaganda, it is essential to demonstrate that it is a 'notoriously false' or 'seriously decontextualized' fact", what he identified in the case of the alleged photo with the brother of a political aggressor. He also argued in the second decision that disinformation also includes «content with true elements, but seriously decontextualized, edited or manipulated», and that the video in question spreads a message "manifestly false and derived from a serious discursive decontextualization".

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DISINFORMATION

01/09

TSE orders removal of publications with disinformation about Lula and Iglesias. The Minister Cármen Lúcia, of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), ordered the withdrawal of the publications of deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL/SP) that associated Lula (PT) with church invasions and persecution of Christians. The representation before the TSE was made by the Brazil of Hope Coalition and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against the federal deputy. According to the coalition, Eduardo Bolsonaro would have carried out irregular negative electoral propaganda and spread disinformation on the Internet. The coalition said that "the perpetuation of disinformation that tarnishes the impartiality of the electoral process, [...] configuring a negative electoral propaganda against former President Lula, through publications on the Internet." Cármen Lúcia argued that the content is not “a political criticism or a legitimate expression of thought”, but rather “a message that is offensive to the honor and image of the pre-candidate for the presidency of the Republic, with the disclosure of information that is known to be not true”. The minister granted precautionary measures for the exclusion of publications on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook within 24 hours, and the prohibition that the deputy respect the publications with the same content, under penalty of a fine in the amount of $ 50,000.00. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DISINFORMATION

06/09

Leonardo Attuch vs. Filipe Garcia Martins. The São Paulo Court of Justice (TJSP) sentenced journalist Leonardo Attuch to pay R$15 in damages to Jair Bolsonaro's international adviser, Filipe Garcia Martins, for publishing two tweets in which he called him a "Nazi". The posts referred to a alleged supremacist gesture made by the aide during a session of the Federal Senate, which symbolized the term "WP" ("whitepower"). In the sentence, the judge argued that, despite having been denounced for the crime of racism, Filipe had been summarily acquitted on the understanding that "the narrated fact obviously does not constitute a crime." He also argued that Leonardo's prerogatives as a journalist do not give him the right to violate the personality rights of others, that the publications did not have any informative content and that the crimes caused damage to Filipe's image. In addition to compensation, he also determined that Leonardo should remove the publications. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CALUMNIES AND INJURIES

01/09

The Administrative Court of Antioquia confirmed the decision of the administrative court of first instance that declared the responsibility of the State of Colombia for the murder of journalist Edison Molina. This responsibility derives from the State's lack of protection for the communicator, despite the fact that he had reported the threats of aggression of which he had been a victim. The decision comes nine years after the murder of the journalist, who was murdered in September 2013.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

06/09

The alliance of media and journalists La Liga Contra el Silencio denounced a judicial false positive of the Attorney General's Office against two community journalists from the Z11 Suba outlet, Jonathan Stiven Cortez and Karina Cepeda, who covered the 2021 National Strike. The journalists were accused of participating in violent acts during the strike and of committing crimes such as torture, terrorism and conspiracy to commit a crime, which could give them more than 40 years in prison. Nevertheless, journalists have shown that they have not committed the crimes of which they are accused, but that they were covering the national strike.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

15/09

The Meta Content Advisory Council (Oversight Board) issued a new decision in a case related to Colombia. The case dealt with the publication on Facebook of a cartoon about police violence in Colombia in the context of social protest. Although the cartoon was originally published in 2020, the image was removed in January 2022 as it was mistakenly included in a bank of infringing content. After the Council selected this case for study, Meta acknowledged the error and restored the content. However, the Council issued a decision recommending to Meta that, among other things, it publish in its transparency reports the rate of errors related to the content wrongly included in these content banks.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONTENT MODERATION

20/09 

Unknown persons threw pyrotechnic material at the home of a journalist from the newspaper Expreso as violent and threatening act against his journalistic work. The government, for its part, declared its solidarity with the events that occurred and stressed that “respect for freedom of expression is a fundamental pillar of democracy. The National Government categorically rejects any act of violence and intimidation perpetrated against communication and journalism professionals.” 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

29/08

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation issued the statement No. 313/2022 in which it reports that the decree amending the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law is invalidated, due to violations of the legislative procedure, among them "that the right to participation of all political forces with parliamentary representation was not respected, in conditions of freedom and equality”. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

07/09 

Article 19 issued a release in which he pointed out that Los Angeles Press journalist Cinthia Alvarado Enríquez was the victim of a stigmatizing speech and a smear campaign by the municipal president of Tapachula, Chiapas. The events occurred after the "Therapeutic Justice Forum" in which the journalist and the official discussed the scope of Recommendation CEDH/23/2020-R and the determination of compensation to the victims. In the local media it was spread that the journalist was exhibited as a vile extortionist. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CALUMNIES AND INJURIES DISINFORMATION

11/09

 La Senator Nestora Salgado Garcia proposed amending article 1 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States "to incorporate the right to memory, truth and justice for past events that have violated human rights."  

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

28/09

The judiciary authorizes the link to trial of two journalists for gender-based political violence against a candidate for preparing a report in which they show that before being a multi-member candidate she was a television hostess and that she appeared in Revista H para Hombres showing some images that appeared in said publication. 

GENDER

05/09

The sentencing judge, Juan Carlos Zárate, acquitted of guilt and reproach the director of the newspaper ABC Color, Natalia Zuccolillo, and the journalist of that medium, Juan Carlos Lezcano, after the oral trial. They had been sued for the alleged crimes of defamation, slander and libel, by the former deputy minister, Marta González, who accused them of false publications and requested conviction.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

06/09

Bill that "Approves the Agreement on Electronic Commerce of Mercosur" Its objective is to provide a legal framework that establishes the rules and principles related to electronic commerce in MERCOSUR, with a view to taking advantage of the economic potential and opportunities provided by it, responding to the need to establish measures that guarantee security and confidence in the production, distribution, commercialization, sale or delivery of goods and services by electronic means and promote harmonious relations at the international level, taking into account that the asymmetry in the national legal frameworks on the matter makes it necessary to sign agreements with international standards , and that this International Instrument adjusts to the growing need for the law applicable to the commercialization of goods and services by electronic means and the general principles to govern its operation.

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE CONSUMER

31/08 

The Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru resolved the appeal filed by former President Pedro Pablo Kuckzynski to revoke house arrest and other restrictions against him. Among these were the prohibitions of: (i) making statements to the press, radio, written or television media, regarding the case, and (ii) carrying out political activity, directly or indirectly. 

The sentence declared that there was no legal basis to establish such restrictions or impose a duty of secrecy as a means of coercion to avoid the procedural risks of escape or obstruction of the process. 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

07/09

The State Procurement Court of the State Procurement Supervising Agency (OSCE), dependent on the Executive Power, sanctioned the La República Publications Group, which publishes the newspaper of the same name, preventing him from contracting state advertising for four and five months.

The OSCE blames the newspaper La República for violating the State Procurement Law, Law 30225, for having been contracted to publish advertisements with various state entities, despite the fact that a shareholder of the newspaper is the mother of the then Minister of Foreign Trade and tourism Claudia Cornejo Mohme. This, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court had previously interpreted that the prohibition on family members contracting with any state entity only applied to the President of the Republic, while for ministers, congressmen and other high-ranking officials the prohibition is limited to the hiring with the same entity where the official works.

The newspaper La República denounced that this is "a perverse intention on the part of the OSCE to sanction a media outlet critical of the current government."

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS