Brazil orders Google to halt campaign against speech bill

Brazil’s Justice Ministry on Tuesday ordered Google to stop conducting what it called a propaganda campaign against Brazilian legislation aimed at curbing misinformation or face about $ 200,000 per hour in fines.

The company later Tuesday took down an article the ministry had labelled propaganda, but it was not immediately clear if the big tech giant was in complete compliance with the agency’s order. The ministry and Google did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

The legislation, hotly contested by big tech companies including Google, would establish fines and deadlines for removing misinformation and hate speech from social media and messaging apps, and require tech companies to file reports on transparency.