Social networks and limits to freedom of expression: New Challenges for Democracy in the Information Age
Democracy. Political liberalism. Social Networks. Freedom of Expression. Hate Speech.
This dissertation investigates how the freedom of expression provided by the Brazilian Constitution is inserted in the context of the democratic regime, considering its current form of externalization through social networks. It outlines the concept of representative democracy, analyzing recent events that lead to a decrease in popular support and the shakeup of its guaranteeing institutions. It explores how the exercise of freedom of expression is a pillar of democracy and how it is impacted by the dynamics of social networks, reconfiguring the space of public discourse, while enabling the spread of hate speech, having relevant impacts on the exercise of politics and for the very understanding of democracy as popular self-government. It analyzes the American and German model of interpretation and limitation of freedom of expression, based on the study of paradigmatic decisions by the Constitutional Courts in these countries. For that, it uses a bibliographical review in the national and foreign scope, using the hypothetical-deductive method. At the end, it critically examines the two exegetical modalities presented and discusses how the Brazilian Supreme Court interprets and admits the limitation of the freedom of expression in Brazil, based on recent decisions.