"Abraji (Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, for its acronym in Portuguese) filed on Friday (March 15) an appeal against the legal thesis of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) that establishes that media outlets are liable for statements made by interviewees who falsely accuse third parties of crimes. According to the decision, made in November by a 9 to 2 majority, if an interviewee falsely accuses another person, the publication may be ordered to pay compensation to the person who was the subject of the false accusation.
[...]
In the appeal, Abraji says the decision is a 'sensitive issue for democracy' and that the thesis established by the Supreme Court has an ‘unacceptable generality.’ [...] The thesis authorizes the removal of any ‘information that proves to be libelous, defamatory, slanderous or false.’ Abraji's lawyers pointed out that only in the case of slander there is false imputation of a crime, while the hypotheses of libel, defamation and lies imply another type of analysis and content. Another weak point, according to the organization, is that the Supreme Court did not make it clear that the authorization to remove content refers only to false statements made by the interviewees, and not to any content of the media in question."
