„Digital Constitutionalism and Democracy“ was the topic of the third webinar between STF und WWU

The third and, for the moment, last edition of the webinar series between the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Münster (WWU) took place on 3 June 2022. Experts discussed the highly topical subject of "Digital Constitutionalism and Democracy".

In this edition, Prof. Dr Alexandre Freire, Secretary for Advanced Studies, Research and Information Management of the STF, delivered the Keynote Lecture to kick off the webinar, addressing the topic of Virtual Plenary Sessions in the context of the modernization of the STF.

Prof. Dr. Frank Zimmermann from the Faculty of Law of the WWU continued the event with a presentation on “Deep Fakes and Democracy: What is the role of Criminal Law?”, followed by Prof. Dr. Heloisa Estellita from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), who in her debate on the Keynote Lecture brought the connection of the topic with the current Latin American, especially the Brazilian context.  The second lecture was presented by Prof. Dr. José Carvalho Filho from the Brasilia Institute of Public Law (Instituto Brasiliense de Direito Público -IDP) and was dedicated to the challenges faced by digital constitutionalism in the digital era of Brazilian democracy. His contribution was commented by Prof. Dr. Nora Markard from the WWU Faculty of Law, who focused on the aspect of platform liability for hate speech content. 

In his closing speech, Prof. Dr. Alexandre Freire emphasised the great importance of the webinar series as a space for high-level academic dialogue and exchange of experience between the highest court in Brazil and the WWU Münster: "I hope that this series of international events will be just the beginning of our journey together within a long-lasting agreement between both institutions that will yield more fruit as or even more prosperous than the ones we have reaped so far". Prof. Dr. Alexandre Freire also emphasised the success of the partnership between the two institutions, which was evidenced by the excellent discussions among renowned professors within the framework of the webinar series. Upcoming highlights are the planned visit of Prof. Dr. Niels Petersen and the research stay of his doctoral student at the STF in the near future.  Prof. Dr. Niels Petersen took the lead in establishing this partnership on behalf of the WWU. The webinar series was held with the support of the Brazil Centre within the framework of the cooperation between the Faculty of Law of the WWU and the Brazilian Supreme Court. The partnership agreement was signed in 2021 and aims to promote cooperation, academic dialogue and mobility of researchers in both directions.