State silences and digital excesses: an analysis of the absence of regulation of digital platforms as a double threat to democracy in a scenario of attacks on the brazilian electoral process

Abstract

The Brazilian democratic crisis manifests itself through political polarization, the delegitimization of institutions, and the use of authoritarian discourse. Digital platforms have established themselves as spaces for narrative dispute and manipulation of the public sphere, enhanced by algorithmic architectures that favor disinformation, radicalization, and ideological segmentation. The article investigates the concomitant role of the State and digital platforms in weakening contemporary Brazilian democracy, focusing on the phenomena of democratic deficit and democratic erosion. It questions how has the intertwining of state decisions and omissions with the behavior of digital platforms fueled the weakening of democracy in Brazil through the disorderly dissemination of content that delegitimizes the electoral process? Analyzing the insufficiency of legal regulation of platforms, the omission of the Legislature and the consequent activism of the Judiciary, in addition to the impacts of algorithmic opacity on the democratic deliberative process, it is concluded that this confluence between normative absence, automated disinformation and intentional institutional delegitimization constitutes fertile ground for democratic degradation. It intends to warn about the risks arising from the interference of foreign autocracies in internal processes, which intensify institutional distrust and democratic erosion. The research contributes to the debate on the political-technological challenges that compromise constitutional democracies.