Document detail

The unfreedom monitor: Brazil country report

Advox (2022), 19 pp.
"Under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil, Latin America's largest democracy, has seen unprecedented increases in threats to citizens’ fundamental rights. Digital rights have not been an exception. Technoauthoritarianism in Brazil must be viewed as a multifaceted development and one that is not undertaken by the federal administration alone. Across the country, states are making unlawful use of civilian data for surveillance purposes and adopting facial recognition technologies, a worrying event in a country that has a history of discriminatory policing where over half of the population is Black. From inside the presidential palace and around Brazil, Bolsonaro and right-wing allies are using social media tools to advance personal interests by sponsoring disinformation campaigns and enabling targeted attacks against opponents and journalists. When targeted by social media moderation, the president tried to overturn the way platforms operate in Brazil with a provisional measure — a largely opaque, authoritarian and unilateral tool. As if the scenario weren't concerning enough for digital rights, journalists around the country are facing a tidal wave of attacks, harassment and smear campaigns, many of which are perpetrated by elected authorities. These attacks have a clear gendered aspect to them, as women journalists are not only targeted more frequently, but more violently." (https://advox.globalvoices.org)
Contents
1 Social Media as a Key Strategy, 6
2 Citizen Data, 10
3 Press Freedom, 12
4 Responses to Digital Authoritarianism, 14