Augusto Santos Silva is clear: “Democratic institutions can drink a lot and enrich themselves with the new conditions for the dissemination of information and communication that digital technologies and networks enable today.” But for the President of the Assembly of the Republic there is one condition: this only applies as long as “networks, technologies and platforms are not the wild west of our democracies”.
The opinion was released this Tuesday during a session – promoted by the National Election Commission (CNE) – on the threat of disinformation in the electoral context and the use of artificial intelligence in elections, which took place in the afternoon in the Senate Hall of the Assembly of the Republic. For an audience with some figures of bodies similar to the CNE of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and party representatives (such as Paula Santos, parliamentary leader of the PCP, Rui Paulo Sousa, deputy of Chega, or Pedro Anastácio , deputy of the PS), the second largest figure in the state, also believed that social networks and other digital media, as an integral part of democracy, are part of democracy and therefore, “like all others, should be subject to democratic rules and regulations”.
This, Santos Silva said, doesn’t necessarily mean regulation is done as it is in other ways. On the contrary. As he said, the President of Parliament said: “The necessary regulation for digital networks and platforms should be lighter, more flexible and plastic, i.e. it should follow the characteristics of these networks, platforms and technologies”, since “they are not enemies”, but “resources we have” and that can help with more oversight and with the electoral processes.
Also present at the hearing was Carmen Lúcia, Judge of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), who intervened twice. In the first – still during the opening session – he left a guarantee: the ‘justice [brasileira] it is the candle that democracy will not let out”, in a clear reference to the events of January 8, when pro-Bolsonaro supporters invaded and smashed the seats of Brazilian power. In the second intervention, made in the context of a thematic panel moderated by Carlos Barreiros (President of the National Electoral Commission of São Tomé and Príncipe), the responsible person explained that “manufacturing disinformation involves resources, there is money involved”, proving the existence of “interests behind the creation of this content”.
During the afternoon, another panel focused on the use of artificial intelligence in electoral operations, with contributions from Vítor Tomé (professor at the Autonomous University of Lisbon) and Ingrid Bicu (member of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance). Previously, Luís Filipe Simões, president of the Union of Journalists, had participated and presented in part the results of an academic study warning of the dangers of “news deserts” (areas of the country where there are no media outlets) for the democratic system.
Source: DN
