FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SIIA CONTACT: Sharon Burk, (732) 586-6680
SIIA Urges Brazil Senate to Oppose “Fake News” Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 24, 2020) – The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal association for the software, information, and digital content industries, opposes the “Lei das Fake News” (Fake News Law Project) scheduled to be voted on by Brazil’s Senate on Thursday, June 25.
SIIA President, Jeff Joseph, issued the following statement:
“SIIA is committed to responsible efforts to combat misinformation online, but Brazil’s proposed ‘Fake News Law Project’ is the wrong approach. If passed, the legislation would roll back privacy principles enshrined in Brazil’s newly implemented data protection law (the LGPD), limit access to online services by underserved and undocumented individuals, and unnecessarily impede the ability of platforms to deploy technologies to enforce their terms of service and combat online misinformation.
“From a trade perspective, the legislation’s forced data localization provision is a de facto trade barrier. Data localization is inconsistent with modern approaches to economics because it prevents cross-border data flows, and flouts the aim of the Iberoamerican Data Protection Network’s Privacy Standards to remove barriers to data flows.
“We echo calls from other stakeholders for Brazil’s legislature to stop this legislation and we urge Brazil to reaffirm its commitment to the privacy principles enshrined in the LGPD.”
About SIIA:
SIIA is an umbrella association that represents constituencies from technology, data and media companies. Through in-person and online business development opportunities, peer networking, corporate education, intellectual property protection and government relations, SIIA provides a network of resources for its 800+ member companies that drive innovation and growth. For more information, visit www.siia.net.
