BRASÍLIA/SÃO PAULO (Reuters) -A Brazilian Senate committee on Wednesday formally approved a request to call representatives of Google, Facebook and Twitter to testify in an ongoing probe into the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senators want to look into what role the companies had in helping to spread potentially dangerous misinformation during the pandemic.
Senator Omar Aziz, who presides over the committee, said on Tuesday that while company representatives would testify as witnesses, the firms could eventually come under investigation themselves.
“To prescribe medication via YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, that’s a crime,” Aziz said during Senate proceedings on Tuesday. “They’re being called as witnesses, but, yes, they could be investigated if the commission so decides.”
The three firms did not have an immediate comment on the decision.
Aziz noted senators want to ask the companies how their platforms run, and whether they allow posts propagating medication that has no scientific basis.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Eduardo SimõesWriting by Ana Mano; Editing by Christian Plumb and Bernadette Baum)
