Social networks under scrutiny in Brazil: “There is an epidemic of violence in schools”

For the Brazilian government, the recent attacks on the country’s schools have a direct link to what is happening on social networks. “There is an epidemic” of school violence in Brazil which has its sounding board on digital platforms, said Justice Minister Flavio Dino.

The minister made these statements at the time of the announcement a package of measures that tries to counteract this phenomenon, among which are included possible sanctions against companies.

In some cases, those responsible for these attacks were linked to groups that spread their hate messages and platforms were “passive” about itDino assured.

Faced with this “emergency” situation, the government has decided that social networks they can be punished and also “withdrawals” from the air if they keep those messages and do not take action against suspicious profiles, the minister said.

He explained that a “specific regulation” will be implemented regarding only messages encouraging violence “against schools, children and adolescents”.

The platforms will be forced to take off the flight profiles that spread fake news on the attacks on schools, which have generated “alarm”.

a wave of attacks

Attacks on schools have increased dramatically in recent years in Brazil. The most recent was this Wednesday: a 14-year-old minor attacked two 9-year-old girls with an ax in a school in the Carirí region, in the northwest of the country.

The victims were hospitalized after the attack. One of them has already been discharged, while the other continues in intensive care awaiting surgery for a head injury.

The most tragic episode occurred on April 5th. 4 children were murdered in a nursery in Santa Catarina by a man who entered the establishment with an ax and started assaulting the minors. There were at least 4 injuries.

The perpetrator, a 25-year-old man, turned himself in at a military police headquarters, where he was detained, the force said in a statement. Police are currently investigating the involvement of neo-Nazi groups in instigating that crime.

On March 27, a 13-year-old teenager stabbed a teacher to death at a school in São Paulo. According to the Bandeirantes news channel, information was found on the attacker’s mobile phone about other attacks against schools registered in Brazil caused by bullying or psychological abuse suffered by their peers.

In the same period there were bombings, without fatalities, in schools in 3 other states.

Last November, a 16-year-old teenager killed four people and injured more than a dozen in two attacks on schools in the city of Aracruz in the southeastern state of Espirito Santo.

In 2019, two former students killed eight people with a firearm in a secondary school in Suzano, on the outskirts of São Paulo, and later committed suicide.

The deadliest attack ever recorded in Brazil occurred in 2011. 12 children were killed when a man opened fire at their former kindergarten in Realengo, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, before taking his own life.

Source: AFP and ANSA