January 19, 2024

11:01

Adrisa De Góes – From Cenarium Agency

MANAUS (AM) – The mayor of Manaus, David Almeida (Avante), was the target of an internet attack using Google, the web’s largest search engine. On Wednesday, 17, searches for the name of the head of the municipal executive led to content in which the politician is identified as “former mayor of Manaus”. The authors of the misinformation have not yet been identified.

In addition, a simultaneous automation boosted the defamatory content, which tries to link the mayor to a case that has already been denied since the 2020 elections, when David Almeida won at the polls, elected by the majority of voters in the Amazonian capital with 51.27% of the valid votes, which corresponds to 466,970 votes in total.

According to the note released by David Almeida’s advisors, the manipulation identified by Google was reported to the platform. “The Municipal Attorney General’s Office (PGM) is already preparing to adopt the appropriate legal measures to identify the authors behind the action, as well as demanding that the platform remove intentionally boosted search results”, the statement said.

On December 22, Mr. Almeida reported to the Federal Police (PF) that he had been the target of fake news, this time using Artificial Intelligence (AI), known as deepfake. An inquiry has been launched and, so far, the investigation has revealed that there are two people suspected of disseminating an audio montage that uses David Almeida’s voice to insult teachers in the municipal school system.

Officially, the episode involving the head of the Amazonian capital was the first recorded against a government official in the country on the eve of an electoral process. Two other episodes of suspected manipulation of information are also being investigated in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Sergipe and involve a mayor and a federal lawmaker.

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE), chaired by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, will hold public hearings later this month to issue a resolution. The aim is to ban the manipulation of voice and images with false content, with the possibility of even having the mandate revoked. According to the draft, the responsibility for removing content from the air should lie with the big techs.

Regulating big tech

The big techs, as the large technology companies that dominate the market are known – Google and Twitter, for example – have been targeted by supervisory bodies and the federal government following the offensive and censorship of criticism of Bill 2630, known as the “Fake News Bill”, which regulates the internet.

The bill, if approved, would establish the Brazilian Law on Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet and regulate platforms with new rules of use for social networks, search engines and instant messaging applications. The proposal affects companies with more than 10 million monthly users in the country.

The bill is at a standstill in the House of Representatives, with resistance from the opposition and a strong lobby from the big digital platforms, which claim it would curtail freedom of information.

Read more: Wilson Lima and David Almeida emphasize partnership, but don’t confirm electoral alliance for 2024

Reviewed by Adriana Gonzaga
Translated by Bruno Sena