The Marco Civil [Internet Civil Framework] of the Internet, used by Justice Alexandre de Moraes to support the decision that suspended X (formerly Twitter) in Brazil, has been under discussion at the STF (Supreme Federal Court) since March 2017.
After being placed on and removed from the agenda three times in recent years, the judgment is scheduled for November, but no specific date has been set. At the beginning of the decision, Moraes uses 3 pages out of a total of 51 to reproduce excerpts from the Marco Civil, approved in 2014 and since then the main legislation regulating the internet in Brazil.
'The Marco Civil of the Internet provides for the civil liability of the internet application provider for damages resulting from content generated by third parties and deemed infringing if the measures determined by court order are not taken within the specified time and within the technical limits of the service,' the justice states in the decision.
The STF does not intend to expedite the judgment of the case concerning X. The expectation is to analyze decisions regarding the conduct of the social network, focusing on the lack of a legal representative in the country and to avoid impact on this year's municipal elections. In November, the court intends to establish general definitions on the topics of platform regulation.
Moraes included in his decision the text of Article 19 of the Marco Civil. This provision was the subject of an appeal filed by Facebook after it was fined for moral damages for not removing offensive content against a housewife. Since it was filed, the case has been scheduled to be heard on December 4, 2019, then on June 22, 2022, and finally on May 17, 2023. On all these dates, it was removed from the agenda. Later this month, the rapporteurs of three related actions requested a joint judgment of the cases."