The 3-Line Summary
- The 13th Internet Forum in Brazil (FIB13) met 30 May – 2 June 2023 at Center Convention in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais — the first FIB ever held outside a state capital — with over 40 activities including 27 workshops chosen from 96 proposals.
- Debate revolved around the embattled 'fake news bill' (PL 2630), CGI.br's freshly launched public consultation on platform regulation, lessons from fighting electoral disinformation, AI regulation and political violence against women online.
- Brazil's 2023 agenda — a platform bill in crisis, AI rules in gestation, election disinformation fresh in memory — closely parallels regulatory debates then unfolding across democracies.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on 13th Internet Forum in Brazil (13º Fórum da Internet no Brasil / FIB13) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | 13th Internet Forum in Brazil (13º Fórum da Internet no Brasil / FIB13) |
| Dates | 30 May – 2 June 2023 |
| Venue | Center Convention, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais |
| Theme | Regional governance themes |
| Workshops | 27 |
| Host | Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), operated by NIC.br, hosted with the support of the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU) |
(See the source list at the end of this article.)
Discussion Digest — from the Session Records
Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.
1. Platform Regulation — PL 2630 Stalls, CGI.br Consults
Sessions: Main session on the risks and challenges of regulating digital platforms (1 June)
- All sectors were urged to join CGI.br's public consultation on platform regulation (41 questions on dialogos.cgi.br, launched 25 April, closing 26 June), moderated by Henrique Faulhaber [3]
- Lawyer Flávia Lefèvre warned that PL 2630's content-moderation provisions threatened free expression and could end up further empowering the platforms themselves [3]
- Federal secretary João Brant argued for a dedicated regulatory body overseeing platforms rather than adjudicating individual content, while FGV's Yasmin Curzi pressed for transparency duties and algorithm audits [3]
2. Electoral Disinformation — Lessons from the 2022 Election
Sessions: Sessions on elections and disinformation
"You cannot defeat disinformation outright, but I believe the networked administrative programme has begun to produce a certain inoculation in the population"
— Aline Osório (Superior Electoral Court / constitutional law professor) [4]
- After the disinformation-soaked 2022 election and the 8 January 2023 storming of Congress, panellists audited the electoral court's counter-disinformation programme [4]
- João Guilherme Bastos warned that amendments granting parliamentarians immunity would 'create an incentive for those people' to abuse it [4]
3. AI Regulation — Questioning the 'Adoption-first' Strategy
Sessions: AI sessions
- Mozilla Foundation researcher Tarcízio Silva criticised Brazil's AI strategy for leaning on 'preparing Brazilians to adopt and use' the technology while underweighting risks and rights [4]
- At the first FIB of the ChatGPT era, algorithmic discrimination and labour impacts were debated alongside the draft AI bill (PL 2338) [4]
4. Political Violence against Women — 'Not a Dark Street'
Sessions: Sessions on gender and online violence
"May the Internet not be that dark street in women's lives"
— Brisa Bracchi (Natal city councillor) [4]
- First-person testimony documented how online attacks and threats push women out of political life [4]
- Slow platform responses to reports and the machinery of gendered disinformation were called out [4]
5. First FIB beyond a State Capital — A University's Bid
Sessions: Overall programme
- Uberlândia won the forum through a hosting bid by UFU's human-rights laboratory (LabDH) — the first non-capital city ever to stage the FIB [1][2][5]
- Science and Technology Minister Luciana Santos attended; around 400 participants were expected in hybrid format, with 27 workshops selected from 96 proposals [1][2][5]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. What dominated the agenda?
A. Platform regulation. With the 'fake news bill' stalled in Congress, CGI.br had just opened a 41-question public consultation — moving the debate from whether to regulate to writing the rules collectively.
Q. Why was the venue notable?
A. It was the first FIB outside a state capital. The Federal University of Uberlândia bid to host it, pushing governance debate into Brazil's interior.
Q. Why does it matter abroad?
A. Designing platform and AI regulation at the same time, under disinformation pressure, is exactly the puzzle most democracies faced — and Brazil tried to solve it by multistakeholder consultation.
What Is Brazil IGF? (for first-time readers)
Brazil IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.
Why It Matters to You
What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- Fórum da Internet no Brasil — FIB13 — FIB / CGI.br（公式サイト） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Uberlândia recebe a 13ª Edição do Fórum da Internet no Brasil, com apoio da UFU — Comunica UFU（ウベルランジア連邦大学広報） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- FIB13 traz debate sobre riscos e desafios relacionados à regulação de plataformas digitais no país — CGI.br（公式リリース） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Perdeu o FIB13? Confira destaques do Fórum da Internet no Brasil — Desinformante（専門メディア） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- CGI.br divulga lista de workshops selecionados para o 13º Fórum da Internet no Brasil — NIC.br（公式リリース） (accessed 2026-07-11)
Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.
Related links
- IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
- Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
- Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/
Revision History
Rev. 1 — published 21 August 2023, 09:00 (Article published)
Rev. 2 — updated 16 July 2026, 20:09 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))
— 中澤祐樹
