The concept of disinformation in the judicial control of TRE-SC: analysis of the judgments of the 2022 elections

Abstract

The research question of this text is: what concept (or argumentative criterion) was used for the judicial control of disinformation by the TRE-SC in the 2022 Elections? The goal is to describe it, based on your judgments. The methodology started from a qualitative research, using bibliographic and documentary resources to analyze the judicial decisions resulting from
the public consultation carried out using the keyword criteria: “fake news and/or news known to be untrue and/or disinformation”. In the twelve Judicial Electoral Investigation Actions, no adherent demands were identified. Fifteen Complaints and two Right of Reply Actions were decided on the merits. The main conclusion is that the concept of judicial control of disinformation
in the 2022 Elections in the Electoral Judiciary of Santa Catarina used the legal meaning of “content/fact known to be untrue”, restricting its analysis regarding the flagrant untruthfulness of the contested contents, with the judges based, mainly, in the regulatory legislation of the Electoral Court, with prevalence of freedom of expression.