The Ministry of Justice announces a precautionary measure against Google and demands adjustments to the homepage within two hours.

247 - The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino (PSB), announced in a press conference this Tuesday (2) that the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacom) has taken a precautionary measure regarding Google. Since Monday (1), the platform has been displaying a message against Google on its homepage. Bill 2630/2020, known as the Fake News Bill.The search engine will have up to two hours to make the necessary adjustments.

According to Dino, Google defines itself as a technology platform and cannot publish an "editorial." Therefore, in the minister's understanding, the notice displayed by the search engine should be considered advertising and, therefore, needs to be marked as such.

>>> "PL 2630 is a step backward, strengthening the sharks of the old media," says Joaquim de Carvalho.

Senacom assessed that the notice constitutes abusive advertising and, therefore, requires counter-advertising. Thus, the company must broadcast a notice in favor of the bill, so that consumers have access to "the other side."

“Our goal is to protect consumers and combat private censorship. Regulation is not a government proposal, it is a requirement of our time. It is not only supported by the Constitution, but demanded by the Constitution,” Dino stated.

According to Google, Bill 2630 "ends up protecting those who produce disinformation," "jeopardizes access to and free distribution of content on the Internet," "gives broad powers to a government agency to decide what Brazilians can see on the internet," "poses serious threats to freedom of expression," "harms Brazilian companies and advertisers," and "makes it difficult for Brazilians to access Google Search by treating search engines as social networks."