Racismo online no Brasil: uma análise a partir da perspectiva de decisões judiciais

Abstract

Safernet data from the past few years has shown an increase in the number of reports of racism on the internet. In a country marked by structural racism, it is clear that the virtual environment becomes a new space for the propagation of racist hate speech. Victims of this type of conduct are left to resort to the Judiciary to ensure that the possible perpetrators are held responsible. As a result, and considering that the use of the internet as a means of spreading racism can pose a challenge to both current legislation and judges, the question arises: what are the main points discussed in judicial decisions about online racism in Brazil? To answer this problem, the predominantly inductive method was choosed, using first-person narrative, as recommended by the Racial Critical Theory, like the legal storytelling. As procedural methods, quantitative-qualitative research of judicial decisions of the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region was used, having as time frame from 2010 to 2020. As quantitative research, jurimetry was used to understand the meaning of the numbers involving the decisions found using the defined criteria. In addition, Grounded Theory was chosen for the qualitative research, in order to understand which are the main categories of argument that could be verified in the judgments. The research techniques, in turn, were the documentary and bibliographic, with extensive research in judicial decisions and legislation, as well as in articles and books about the subject, respectively. In the end, it was possible to verify a reduced number of decisions involving online racism against black people, while a greater number of judgments involving this type of discourse against Northeastern and indigenous people. In addition, five main categories were identified within the decisions, namely: a) delimitation of racism only in the form of direct discrimination; b) materiality and authorship of the offense most easily demonstrated through the evidence collected on the internet; c) the need to demonstrate the accused's deceit; d) debate between the right to freedom of expression versus the spread of racism and hate speech; e) the harmfulness of the internet as a means of spreading online racism. Such conclusions allow to think which are the biggest points to consider for a reform in the current anti-racist criminal legislation.