Freedom of opinion and free access to information. Human Rights in the age of social networks

• Grant number: 25/12094-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Sergio França Adorno de Abreu
• Grantee: Veronica Maia Schlickmann Guibu
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07923-7 - Center of the Study of Violence - NEV/USP, AP.CEPID

Abstract

In Brazil, as in other societies in the contemporary Western world, the debate on freedom of opinion, free access to information, and the protection of civil rights, as guaranteed by the 1988 Constitution, has intensified. Often, in the print and electronic media, as well as in other public spaces, this debate pits those who accuse judicial authorities of imposing censorship on the free circulation of ideas against those who argue that these rights are not absolute and require their social and normative regulation. In favor of regulation, it is argued that hate speech, intolerance, cruelty, and prejudice of all kinds are proliferating on social networks, which attack the dignity of certain social groups and impose personal pain and suffering on them. This process coincides with a global phenomenon. The rapid expansion of social networks, which facilitates the circulation of information without moral constraints, encourages the lack of distinction between right and wrong, fair and unfair, legal and illegal, false and true. Social networks have become arenas for ideological and political disputes, pitting defenders against those opposed to human rights. The objective of this project is to describe and map the public debate on freedom of expression in contemporary Brazilian society, identifying characteristics of the messages, their authors, and the broader social context. The empirical universe of investigation includes news, narratives, speeches, discourses, texts, and images that claim the right to freedom of expression and free access to information. As source of information, the research uses specialized bibliography, news published in print and electronic media, messages on social networks, arguments drawn from academic debates, opinion polls, and reports from government and non-governmental agencies. Although the sociological investigation focuses on the situation that extends from June 2013 to the current impasses experienced by Brazilian democracy, the empirical survey has a time frame from January 2023 to December 2025, when these conflicts intensified.