Chile. As part of its work to reflect on the changes in the audiovisual ecosystem, the National Television Council (CNTV), in conjunction with the National Television Association (Anatel), held a meeting that included a presentation by Brazilian researcher Marie Santini, founder and director of NetLab, Laboratory of Internet and Social Network Studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The presentation, entitled "Freedom of expression and the power of Big Tech: the defects in the governance of digital platforms", addressed the main challenges presented by large technology platforms in terms of regulation, transparency and protection of fundamental rights.
The activity was attended by representatives of CNTV, Anatel, the academic world and the television industry, who discussed the impacts of digital platforms on the circulation of content and on public debate.
During her presentation, Marie Santini warned about the social, political and economic consequences of the lack of effective regulation in the digital environment, underlining the need to advance in greater transparency and access to data. "It is very important that in Latin America we can discuss the consequences of unregulated digital platforms, especially when we talk about freedom of expression and the responsibility that these platforms have in the impact they cause in society," he said.
It also identified four critical dimensions to address this phenomenon: digital advertising, content moderation, recommendation systems and access to data. In this sense, he emphasized that "today we have a situation in which there are laws that could protect citizens, but we are not able to apply them because we do not have sufficient transparency."
For his part, the president of the CNTV, Mauricio Muñoz, valued the instance as a relevant contribution to the strengthening of the regulatory capacities of the organization. "We have just had an extremely interesting and very promising discussion from the point of view of the regulatory capacities of the Council, regarding the challenges represented by digital platforms in terms of transmission of audiovisual content," he said.
From Anatel, its president, Pablo Vidal, stressed the importance of strengthening dialogue between the different actors in the sector in the face of technological changes. "Television has changed, audiences have changed, technologies have changed. The regulation did not change and remained in the past, so understanding the current world and the one to come is a giant task," he said.
He also highlighted the value of learning about comparative experiences: "It is very interesting to observe what is happening in Brazil, a market that is more developed in these areas, because it allows us to anticipate challenges and learn lessons for the future of our industry."
The event highlighted the need to advance in regulatory frameworks that respond to the transformation of the media ecosystem, as well as to strengthen cooperation between institutions, industry and academia to face the challenges posed by digital platforms in the field of freedom of expression and access to information.
