ABOUT Federal Public Ministry (MPF) Sao Paulo notified this Monday (1) Google And Target – company that controls facebook, Instagram This whatsapp – for alleged actions contrary to the Fake News Act (PL 2.620/2020) on its platforms. The body asks if there were changes in search results and unidentified advertisements compared to the offer.

Companies have 10 days to respond to requests, and the MPF has asked for details on how much would be spent promoting inconsistent content with meta ads, and what criteria Google used to display search results about the project from April 20 to May 2 2023.

The notice is part of an investigation that is being conducted in Sao Paulo and is directed at major digital platforms known as big tech. The bill on fake news could be put to a vote in the plenary session of the House on Tuesday (2).

The MPF says it is up to Congress and the public to discuss digital platform regulation, but the notice says there are signs that pressure is being exerted by those responsible for some of the digital platforms in defiance of the proposed new rules.

The article also cites the Foli de S. Paulo report and the NetLab UFRJ report which states that “Google weights search results in a way that increases the relevancy of its own voice on its platform.“.

For the MPF, this type of practice can violate fundamental rights to information, transparency in consumer relations, and the exercise of citizenship by its users, and whether Google and Meta accept misbehavior in a democratic debate needs to be assessed.

The notice highlights the importance of digital platforms as a means for users to interact socially and obtain quality information, emphasizing the need to maintain fundamental rights and be transparent with consumers.

As such, the Federal Public Ministry of São Paulo has notified Google and Meta of the alleged actions contradicting the PL fake news on their platforms, asking for clarification on changes in search results and unidentified ads against the offer. The agency also questioned the costs of promoting contrary content and the criteria used by Google to display search results for the project.

Google has created fanfare on its home page

On the second, Google featured on its main search engine page an article signed by the company’s director of government relations and public policy in Brazil, Marcelo Lacerda, which included the text “The fake news bill could add to the confusion about what is true and what is false in Brazil.“. In the article, Lacerda defended that the fake news bill “ends up protecting those who spread disinformation, which leads to the creation of more disinformation“.

As for accusations of expanding the reach of pages with content contradicting LP fake news at the expense of text-friendly posts, Google denied such accusations. The company’s announcement states that “Under no circumstances do we manually modify the result lists to determine the position of a particular page. Our ranking systems are consistently applied to all pages, including those managed by Google.“.

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Source: CNN

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