Brazil: Adopted Civil Rights Framework for the Internet including content-related regulation

On 23 April 2014, the Brazilian parliament adopted the Civil Rights Framework (Marco Civil da Internet, lei n° 12.965) for the Internet. The Law introduces responsibility rules for platforms and establishes that providers are not liable for removal, except when a court order has been issued, in order to ensure freedom of expression and prevent censorship. In case of content removal, the Law specifies that the user responsible for the content must be informed of the decision. The Law further states that content that violates the honour, reputation or personality rights of a person may be brought before a court. Additionally, the Law defines that platforms can be responsible for third-party content if they ignore requests to remove content that violates an individual’s intimacy or sexual privacy.