Brasília (EFE) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed Thursday that his government is preparing a bill to regulate social media, despite the opposition expressed by United States President Donald Trump.
Lula stated that in Brazil, “laws also apply to foreigners” operating in the Brazilian market, in response to Trump’s comments about the South American country limiting US companies.
“We are drafting a regulatory project to prevent the madness they inflict on children and adolescents, such as paedophilia, incitement to hatred, and the dissemination of lies that endanger democracy,” the president said at an event in Goiana, in the northeastern state of Pernambuco.
Lula did not provide details of the project, but according to official sources, it will include measures to strengthen sanctions against social media companies that refuse to remove content deemed especially harmful to children and adolescents by the Justice Department.
Trump criticised Brazil’s Supreme Court ruling that social media companies could be held responsible for user-generated content on their platforms, as well as the X 2024 ban, which came after Elon Musk declined to comply with a court order to suspend specific accounts.
He also partly justified the additional 50% tariff on some Brazilian imports on the basis of this ruling, as well as the alleged ‘political persecution’ suffered by former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), who is facing a coup trial in the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, Lula insisted that Trump had “made a mistake with Brazil” and reiterated that Bolsonaro is being tried with all the guarantees of the right to defence for an alleged coup d’état, which was betrayed by his own allies.
Regarding the tariffs, Lula reiterated that Brazil is willing to negotiate, but only on strictly commercial and non-political terms. EFE
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