10/16/2020 5:35 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 10/16/2020 5:35 PM
Federal judge
María Eugenia Capuchetti
rejected this Friday a proposal through which the prosecutor
Carlos Stornelli
had requested the issuance of a precautionary measure to prevent the launch of the
Nodio
observatory
.
El Nodio, still in the training stage, was presented by the Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services.
as an observatory
dedicated to recording, analyzing and preventing the flow of malicious and false information and content
in the mass media.
The magistrate understood that in the prosecutor's presentation "it is not verified - beyond the generic formulations and invocations to norms of different hierarchy - in what concrete way the creation of the body
would affect the right to freedom of expression
protected by the National Constitution" , as stated in the resolution to which Télam agreed.
In relation to the request for an investigation formulated by Stornelli against the head of the Ombudsman's Office,
Miriam Lewin
, the magistrate asked that body for all the documentation and regulations for the creation and implementation in order to analyze whether the commission follows. of some crime, something that was not proven in the opinion of the prosecution, judicial sources indicated.
By rejecting the issuance of a precautionary measure that prevents the implementation of Nodio, Judge Capuchetti also pointed out that the prosecution did not try to "demonstrate
the illegitimacy or manifest arbitrariness
in the creation of said observatory."
"Beyond the opinion that one may have about the creation of an organism such as the one in question and what or what should be the positive actions that States should take to combat online disinformation, the truth is that in the current state in that things are found, I warn that the damages invoked by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF)
are merely hypothetical
and based on a hasty interpretation of the questioned norm that even omits to individualize, "the judge maintained.
The magistrate also considered that the prosecutor in charge of Stornelli "is not questioning a rule or a particular act, but rather that its claim is aimed at preventing any state body from issuing an administrative act that could tend to carry out the activities of the Observatory in question, which does not specify whether it was 'created' or just 'presented' ".
In the same direction, the judge held that "the isolated allegations made by the MPF referring to the fact that the state apparatus would be claiming the power to define or qualify what news or public expression would or would not have such malicious scope, has not been complemented with the accompanying any element that even hypothetically evidences the alleged damage ".
In an 8-page ruling, the magistrate also remarked that the launch of Nodio occurred in a context of "recommendations made by international organizations towards the States," among which is the advice to "evaluate the possibility of supporting positive measures. to address the problem of online misinformation, such as promoting independent instances for information verification. "
The challenge of addressing the problem of online disinformation that the questioned Observatory would have as its objective "is evident and quite common in various parts of the world, but so is the concern of citizens regarding the way in which this is carried out. type of task, since, through this type of initiative, it is possible to unduly limit freedom of expression, extend the control of the State over the media, restrict freedom on the Internet and expand the power of various actors to collect personal data "said the judge.
The magistrate highlighted in the ruling that the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, the Representative for Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States (OAS), made the Joint Declaration on freedom of expression and elections in the digital age in which they denounced that there are acts of deliberate disinformation.
"In this work, deliberate misinformation and misinformation or misinformation disseminated with the intention of harming are denounced; the essential role played by freedom of expression and information, as well as independent media, is also highlighted. expresses some alarm at the misuse of social networks and expresses strong concern that many States are enacting laws that unduly limit freedom of expression, as they extend the State's control over the media and restrict freedom on the Internet ", emphasized the judge.
In a similar vein, he recalled that "at the beginning of 2018 the European Commission (executive body of the Union) created a group of experts to advise on public initiatives in order to counter the spread of false news and disinformation online that culminated in a series of responses based on improving the transparency of online news; promoting media and information literacy to counter misinformation and help users navigate the digital media environment. "
The case was initiated from a complaint made by the National Deputies of Together for Change Waldo Wolff, Fernando Adolfo Iglesias, Graciela Ocaña, José Luis Patino, Julio Enrique Sahad, Adriana Ruarte, Héctor Stefani, Martín Grande, Omar De Marchi, Álvaro de Lamadrid and Jorge Ricardo Enríquez.
Legislators accused Lewin, who works as Public Defender for Audiovisual Communication Services, of creating a body to exercise prior censorship to restrict freedom of expression.
When presenting the observatory, the Public Defender's Office defined Nodio as a space dedicated to recording, analyzing and preventing the flow of malicious and false information and content in the mass media, with the aim of guaranteeing citizens protection against news that promote social polarization and violence.