ABOUT Administrative Council for Economic Protection (Where) a preliminary administrative investigation was initiated. Google And Target for alleged abuse of dominance in debates on bill (PL) 2.630/20, known as PL fake news. The purpose of the text is to regulate social networks.

Cade made the decision after receiving several complaints about the companies that point to an alleged campaign against the project on their platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

According to the complaints, the platforms would use all possible resources to prevent the approval of the project being discussed in the National Congress. Among the measures will be presenting biased search results to users searching for terms related to the bill, giving privilege to content that criticizes the text, and preventing posting positions favorable to the proposal on social media.

“This council is keenly and aggressively committed to combating economic disruption in digital markets, which, due to the dynamism inherent in such markets, requires swift and clear action by competition authorities.“, says a dispatch from Cade.

The Federal Public Ministry in São Paulo (MPF-SP) also sent a letter to Google requesting information about the alleged approval of results contrary to PL 2.630/20. The agency cites a study by researchers from the Internet and Social Media Research Laboratory (NetLab) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) titled “Platform War Against PL 2630”, which shows various platform initiatives in this regard. .

Senacon is also investigating Google

The National Secretariat for Consumer Protection (Senacon) has determined that Google will immediately take a series of precautionary measures to correct signs that it will be censoring public debate on the bill. Google will have to start broadcasting within two hours of notice of the decision positions favorable to the bill. If Senacon fails to comply with the requirements, the company will be fined 1 million reais per hour.

Cade said the companies are under investigation as part of other investigations that show signs of business disruption. In its address, the Council underlined the importance of the antimonopoly authorities taking prompt and clear measures to combat violations of the economic order in digital markets.

The case of Google and Meta’s abuse of dominance in the Fake News PL debate demonstrates the relevance of the debate on social media regulation and the need to monitor the performance of these companies in the digital marketplace. The Cade investigation and the actions of MPF-SP and Senacon show that the Brazilian authorities are aware of anti-competitive practices in the technology sector and that they will not hesitate to take measures to guarantee free competition and consumer protection.

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Source: Agency of Brazil.

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