Abstract

MICHELETTI, Afonso Medici  and  ROQUE, Nathaly Campitelli. CIVIL LIABILITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA: AN ANALYSIS PROPOSAL IN LIGHT OF CICERO'S POLITICAL THOUGHT. Revista Internacional CONSINTER de Direito [online]. 2023, n.17, pp.113-136.  Epub Feb 28, 2024. ISSN 2183-6396.  https://doi.org/10.19135/revista.consinter.00017.03.

The steady growth of Internet access has led to a significant increase of social media in the last decades. The high speed at which information spreads online, in an increasingly connected society, indicates the harmful potentiality of the inappropriate use of social media. There is increasing concern about the impact of hate speech and the spread of fake news, as well as the dissemination of intimate images, nude photos or pornography without consent. This study examines whether the concept of virtue as proposed by Cicero is applicable to the contemporary legal apparatus and its compatibility with civil liability standards when confronted with damages due an abusive exercise of free speech on social media. A deductive approach and literature review were used in this research. Many of the concepts discussed by Cicero have been incorporated into Western law throughout history, such as good faith and the common good, which place limits on the exercise of individual freedoms, such as freedom of expression, and also provide important guideposts for the interpretation and application of the entire legal system. Reason, prudence and moderation must be present to ensure respectful and productive debate among members of society. The abusive exercise of the right to free expression, with negative effects on third parties, violates the precepts of justice ("do no harm" and "to give each his own") and requires the enforcement of civil liability as an appropriate means of redress.

Keywords : Freedom of expression; social media; civil liability; virtues; Cicero..

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