Toffoli proposes 60 days of transition for big techs to adopt new rules

Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), announced this Wednesday (10) that he will propose a period of 60 days for digital platforms to adapt to the new rules on liability for content published by users.

Rapporteur of one of the actions on the topic, Toffoli started voting in the judgment of the appeals presented by technology companies against the decision taken by the Court last year, which expanded the possibilities of holding platforms responsible for illicit content published by users.

One of the resources analyzed was presented by Meta, the controller of Facebook and Instagram, which, among other points, defended the creation of a transition period before the new guidelines come into force.

The company argued that foreign legislation on the subject adopted adaptation deadlines. As an example, he cited Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom, which granted, respectively, 11, 15 and 17 months for companies to adjust their systems and workforce.

The company's lawyers also argued that the STF itself usually provides transition rules in cases of complex regulatory changes or the review of consolidated understandings, in order to allow the affected sectors to adapt.

During the reading of the report on the case this Wednesday, Toffoli said that he will accept the request and will propose a transition period, despite it being significantly shorter than the foreign references brought by Meta.

According to the minister, the reference he will use will be the ECA Digital, a law approved this year to expand the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment.

The standard, one of the first in the country to establish obligations and sanctions directly aimed at platforms, granted 60 days for companies to make the necessary adaptations.

"I already advance part of my vote to say that, between our decision and this judgment, the ECA Digital was edited. In it, a deadline of 60 days was given for adjustments, which has already been exhausted. Therefore, from the point of view of concrete reality, I will, in the end, propose the same deadline, which was 60 days, which seemed quite adequate to me and has already been tested", he stated.

The minister's proposal, however, only counts one vote in this regard. For the deadline to actually become real, at least five other ministers need to agree to it.

This Wednesday's session was suspended as the hour advanced. On Thursday afternoon (11) the trial should be resumed so that Toffoli can finalize his statement and so that other ministers can vote.

The vote until then
Until then, Toffoli proposed a series of adjustments to the thesis established by the Supreme Court last year. One of the highlights of the vote deals with the types of platforms that continue to be protected by the rule that requires a court order for accountability.

The thesis predicted that email services, private messaging applications and video conferencing platforms would continue under such protection, while other types of platforms could already be held responsible in the event of omission following a notification requesting removal of content.

For the minister, however, this list of services that continue to be governed by the rule that requires a court order for liability must reach a series of other platforms that have little or no influence on the circulation of information published by users.

The minister cited Wikipedia as an example, which barely interferes with user activity online. For him, Wikipedia's role is very different from that of social networks that collect data, use recommendation algorithms and promote content to users. According to him, these other networks pose greater risks to fundamental rights and should be treated differently, with stricter accountability rules.

"If these providers have different activities, different business models and functionalities that are not equivalent to those mentioned in the basis of the votes to justify the deficits in the protection of fundamental rights on the internet, especially if they have no or low interference in the communicative and informational flow, strictly speaking, there is no reason to exclude them from the incidence of article 19 of the MCI", stated the minister.

Toffoli also sought to clarify that email and private messaging services will only be in this category when they are limited to communications protected by confidentiality. If the platform starts to boost content or insert targeted advertising, it may be subject to stricter rules.

Legal headquarters in the country
Another point addressed in the vote this Wednesday (10) involves the requirement that all platforms have legal representation in Brazil, provided for in the thesis approved in 2025.

In responding to one of the requests in the appeal, the minister suggested, however, restricting the obligation to platforms with "economic activity in the country", waiving the obligation for providers focused exclusively on social, cultural or public utility purposes.

The point provoked a reservation from Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who has already had legal disputes with platform X, belonging to Elon Musk, on the topic. He stated that non-economic platforms can also be used to commit crimes and defended caution to avoid difficulties in applying Brazilian court decisions.

"I already raise my concern about this point because, today, crimes committed on the networks are not only committed by those who have an economic purpose, they are also by those who have an ideological purpose. A platform, for example, with Nazi messages without an economic purpose, if it doesn't have a headquarters here, there is no way for Brazilian justice to control it. And then it goes from 8 to 80, if it doesn't have a headquarters, it ends up having to be completely removed from circulation in the national territory", said the minister.

Toffoli responded that he understands the reservation and is open to reviewing the proposal during the debate that will continue tomorrow.

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Source: CNN