The phantom of "freedom of speech"

how the termination of platform fact-checking policies corroborates cycles of gender-based violence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/am.v32i1.104055

Abstract

Based on the premise that platform deregulation accentuates the vulnerability of minoritized groups, this article problematizes the effects of the termination of Meta’s fact-checking policies, announced in January 2025. Methodologically, it conducts a qualitative theoretical-conjunctural reflection based on documentary analysis (IFCN, Meta, and Abraji) cross-referenced with studies on gender-based violence in communication. It concludes that the regulatory vacuum operates as a form of gendered disinformation: by removing verification filters, the platform reduces the social cost for the aggressor and intensifies the silencing of women, sustaining—under the rhetoric of "freedom of speech"—dynamics of epistemicide and corporicide directed at female bodies.

Author Biographies

Rose De Melo Rocha, https://portal.espm.br/

Rosamaria Luiza (Rose) de Melo Rocha holds a PhD in Communication Sciences (ECA/USP), with completed postdoctoral fellowships in Social Sciences/Anthropology (PUC-SP), in Social Sciences, Childhood and Youth (CLACSO), and a Senior Postdoctoral fellowship at the Multidisciplinary Graduate Program in Culture and Society (UFBA), in the research line on Arts, Gender and Sexualities at the Research and Extension Center on Cultures, Genders and Sexualities (NuCuS). She is a full professor and researcher at the Graduate Program in Communication and Consumption Practices at ESPM-SP, where she also served as coordinator (January 2011 to February 2015), and at the Interinstitutional Master's Program in Communication and Consumption ESPM/IELUSC (2021–2023). She has experience in the study and teaching of relations between images and imaginaries; aesthetics and politics; communication and consumption; communication, race and gender issues; and gender-based musical artivisms. Her research focuses on Brazilian youth and urban cultures, currently under two main approaches: 1) the relationship between activisms, politicities, audiovisibilities and entertainment, with emphasis on racial, generational and gender issues; 2) the relationship between aesthetic expressions, communication and consumption, with emphasis on dissensual and deviant experiences and forms. She received the Intercom Prize (1999) for the best Brazilian doctoral dissertation in Communication defended in 1998. She served as coordinator of the Working Group "Communication and Urban Cultures" at Intercom (2009–2013), vice-coordinator of the Working Group "Image and Media Imaginaries" at Compós, and coordinator of the Working Group "Communication, Gender and Sexualities" at Compós (2021–2022). She is coordinator of the Working Group "Communication, Consumption and New Political Flows: Activisms, Cosmopolitanisms, Counter-Hegemonic Practices" at Comunicon. Since 2009 she has participated in the CLACSO research network, in the Working Group "Youth and Childhood," of which she was a founding member and in which she currently participates in the expanded axis coordination. She is also coordinator of the CNPq Research Group "Juvenália: Aesthetic, Generational, Racial and Gender Issues in Communication and Consumption" (since 2015). She served as editor of E-Compós (Journal of the National Association of Graduate Programs in Communication) from March 2008 to March 2011. She has co-authored books and numerous articles in academic journals in Brazil and Latin America on the following topics: youth studies; communication and gender studies, activisms, politicities and aesthetic expressions; theories of image, communication and consumption. She also serves as an ad hoc consultant for funding agencies.

Kaluan Boarini Bernardo, ESPM-SP

Holds a degree in Journalism from Faculdade Cásper Líbero (2013) and a Master's in Communication from Faculdade Cásper Líbero (2016). Currently a doctoral candidate in Communication and Consumption Practices at ESPM-SP with a CAPES scholarship. He is a specialist in educational technologies at SENAI-SP. Has experience in the field of Communication, with emphasis on Communication.

Claudia Pereira Ferraz, ESPM-SP

I am a teacher, social educator, and researcher. I taught Cyborg Anthropology in the specialization course Social Networks, Culture and Politics offered by COGEAE at PUC/SP, and Anthropology of Media at the Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo. I am currently completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the PPGCOM of ESPM-SP on public education policies for the use of educational technology in the state of São Paulo and in Estonia. I hold a Doctorate from the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, where I defended the thesis entitled: Political Ontology of Cyberfeminism on Facebook, with a focus on Digital Anthropology, Political Anthropology, and Gender Studies. I completed my Master's degree in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at PUC/SP, defending a dissertation focused on Anthropology entitled: Coquettish Cyborgs: The Condition of Women in the 21st Century through Cyberfeminine Culture. I hold a Bachelor's and Teaching degree in Social Sciences from PUC/SP. Since 2016 I have been a member of the Study Group Juvenália — Youth Cultures: Communication, Image, Politics and Consumption, affiliated with the PPGCOM at ESPM-SP. I work as an associate researcher in the Working Group on Childhoods and Youth and at the Latin American and Caribbean Observatory on Early Childhood, Childhood and Youth, both linked to CLACSO (Latin American Council of Social Sciences). I was a researcher and educator trainer of social educators at NTC (Community Works Center) at PUC/SP, and a collaborating researcher at NEAMP — Center for Studies on Art, Media and Politics at PUC/SP. I am currently researching the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence in public education.

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Published

2026-07-16

How to Cite

De Melo Rocha, R., Boarini Bernardo, K., & Pereira Ferraz, C. (2026). The phantom of "freedom of speech": how the termination of platform fact-checking policies corroborates cycles of gender-based violence. Ação Midiática – Estudos Em Comunicação, Sociedade E Cultura, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.5380/am.v32i1.104055

Issue

ED. 32 - JUL/DEZ (2026)

Section

Artigos | Articles

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