Political freedom and the right of access to information: theoretical constructs on hate

Abstract

The right of access to information can be understood as an offshoot of freedom of expression, often defended in the Brazilian Constitution. The objective of these rights is to guarantee, among other things, individual autonomy regarding social, political, and economic events, as well as strengthening democracy, which should be built on a scenario of public debate and the free circulation of ideas and opinions. However, some feelings have been leveraged by platforms, especially social media, such as hatred and resentment. Therefore, the question arises: how does the intersection between hatred and the right of access to information hinder the realization of political freedom and open up space for illegitimate forms of power and domination? We use the inductive-deductive approach and the works of Franz Neumann and José Rodrigo Rodriguez to delimit the concept and elements of political freedom, making approximations with hatred and the right of access to information facing democracy. The first section analyzes the rights to freedom of expression and access to information from the perspective of historicity and memory, relating them to Neumann’s pathologies of freedom and Hannah Arendt’s factual truth. The second looks at the architecture of platforms, especially social media, to understand whether they contribute to hatred and resentment. We concluded that hatred and (violating) the right of access to information can restrict the realization of political freedom, as well as relativizing the importance of democracy.