Among the discussions of Bill 2630/2020, known as the Fake News PL, which is being processed in the Chamber of Deputies, is the payment of copyright for content shared on major internet platforms. Artists and journalists defend the remuneration of those who produce, both journalistic reports, and those who make music, videos, films. Article 32 of the PL provides for the payment of copyright on shared journalistic content, in any format: texts, videos, audios or images. The latest version of the bill, currently being discussed at the Chamber of Deputies, also included payment to artists. “A song, a film, is always the result of the work of artists”, says actress Lucélia Santos, in a video defending the payment. Now, the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) also wants the journalist worker to be included in the payment for copyright. “Journalists are the intellectual authors of the work that is conveyed by journalistic companies and that will be remunerated by the platforms. So, it is not fair that male and female journalist workers, and we are talking about different functions, are not contemplated within this possibility of direct negotiation”, argues Samira de Castro, president of the entity. A letter signed by the Brazilian Chamber of Digital Economy and by the Latin American Internet Association, which includes Google Tik Tok, Twitter and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) among its members, points out that the text of PL 2630 creates “a complex change in the copyright system”, and which must be preceded by “ample public debate”, under penalty of increasing “the chances of legal uncertainties and damage to what has been built until today”. For the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), an entity that establishes strategic guidelines and proposes studies on the sector, the new legislation should create a balance in the country’s communication. “We are not dealing with a network or with companies that have a hierarchical editorial structure like we have in other journalistic vehicles. But, as you create duties and responsibilities regarding content for these platforms, somehow we are balancing the regulatory symmetry between the various communicational arrangements that we have within the country”, argues Renta Mielli, coordinator of CGI.br. Postponement Last Tuesday (2), the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), decided to remove the vote on PL 2630 from the agenda, following a request from the project’s rapporteur, deputy Orlando Silva (PCdoB -SP). The rapporteur’s request came after a sequence of controversies involving the text of the proposal threatened to make its approval in plenary unfeasible. With no date to return to the voting agenda, parliamentarians are negotiating new changes in the text that may facilitate a greater consensus around the project.
Agência Brasil
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