The Federal Supreme Court (STF) defined this Wednesday (17) the final thesis of the judgment of the appeals filed against the Court's decision that increased the civil liability of big techs for illegal content.  The text should be the basis for the processes being processed in the Judiciary across the country and clarifies the decision in which the Supreme Court recognized, in June last year, the platforms' responsibility for illegal posts made by their users. Related news: STF gives big techs 60 days to comply with rules defined by the Court. Toffoli votes to grant 60 days for big techs to implement rules. Decree determines that big techs must prevent criminal content. Last week, the judgment of the appeals was concluded, but the final thesis of the decision was pending for today's session. The Court confirmed that platforms can be held civilly liable for damages caused by third parties. "The internet application provider will be held civilly liable, jointly and severally, under the terms of art. 21 of the Marco Civil da Internet for damages resulting from content generated by third parties in cases of crime or illicit acts, without prejudice to the duty to remove the content, unless reasonable doubt as to the illegality is demonstrated", says the thesis. >> Follow the Agência Brasil channel on WhatsApp Liability will be applied in cases of systemic network failures, that is, when platforms fail to adopt measures to prevent or remove illegal content. The Supreme Court also set a deadline of 60 days for big techs to implement the measures determined to increase civil liability for illegal content. Among the measures, companies must prohibit users' access to videos with sexual exploitation and abuse, physical violence and induction into behavior that leads to harm to the physical or mental health of children or adolescents. Furthermore, platforms are required to maintain a legal representative in the country to receive subpoenas from the courts. The end of the process that dealt with responsibilities was also declared by the ministers. This way, there are no more questions. Accountability  In June last year, the STF ruled that Article 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet (Law 12,965/2014) was partially unconstitutional, a rule that established the rights and duties for using the internet in Brazil. The provision established that, "in order to ensure freedom of expression and prevent censorship", platforms could only be held responsible for their users' posts if, after a court order, they did not take measures to remove illegal content. Therefore, before the STF's decision, big techs did not respond civilly for illegal content, such as anti-democratic posts, messages containing hate speech and personal offenses. The final text of the decision defined that Article 19 does not protect fundamental rights and democracy. Furthermore, until a new law is approved on the issue, providers will be subject to civil liability for user posts. According to the decision, platforms must remove the following types of illegal content after extrajudicial notification: Undemocratic acts; Terrorism; Induction to suicide and self-harm; Incitement to discrimination based on race, religion, gender identity, homophobic and transphobic conduct; Crimes against women and content that propagates hatred against women; Child pornography; Human trafficking. In case of non-compliance, the platforms must be held responsible for moral and material damages caused by users to third parties.