Núcleo - July 23, 2024
When science becomes a target
By Débora Salles, research coordinator at NetLab UFRJ
When the Center revealed last month that Meta's lawyers had disqualified NetLab UFRJ and its director, Marie Santini, from defending the company in a lawsuit filed by Senacom, the laboratory was already facing a strong wave of attacks from conservative members of parliament and influencers.
We were summoned to appear at a public hearing and received a request from members of parliament to provide information about our funding - information already available on our website.
The lawsuit in which Meta frivolously accuses NetLab UFRJ of bias and lack of scientific rigor is based on evidence that the company allowed the publication of fraudulent ads on its platforms, even after a precautionary measure by Senacom ordering their removal. In this study, NetLab UFRJ identified 1,817 ads of this type published in the two months following the court order.