Brazil is the country with the most digital influencers in the world, totaling around 3.8 million content creators. But how exactly does the Brazilian State view this massive new workforce?
To answer this question, Reglab structured the Feed series. In our previous studies — Feed to the Plenary and Feed to the Planalto — we mapped the views of the Legislative and Executive Branches. Now, in From Feed to Court (Do Feed aos Tribunais), we shift our focus to the Judiciary Branch.
Instead of bills or public policies, we analyzed a sample of 93 appellate decisions distributed across civil, criminal, electoral, and labor spheres. The goal is not to be a quantitative survey, but rather to understand the arguments, logic, and language that magistrates use to judge this new digital reality.
What did we discover?
- A “fragmented professionalization”: The Judiciary does not have a single view of the influencer figure. The legal framework fluctuates depending on the branch of law and the role the creator plays in the case.
- The new role of metrics: The number of followers and engagement rates are no longer just vanity context data. Courts are starting to use these metrics as relevant legal criteria to calculate the value of moral damages or to assess the weight of an infraction.
The absence of consolidated legal categories causes the Judiciary to act reactively, adapting traditional laws to new problems.
Understanding these decision patterns is a fundamental step to guide the drafting of safer advertising contracts, help public policymakers create balanced regulations, and support platforms and brands in their self-regulation and content moderation strategies.