Direito ao esquecimento: aplicação em relação a fatos privados divulgados na Internet

Abstract

The right to be forgotten constitutes a central theme in contemporary legal debate, situated within the context of the protection of privacy, personal data, and human dignity in digital society. Its problematization acquires particular relevance in light of the logic of surveillance capitalism, as theorized by Shoshana Zuboff, characterized by the extraction, commodification, and large-scale exploitation of personal data as a means of economic accumulation and power. In this scenario, past personal information ceases to be merely historical records and becomes integrated into systems of monitoring, classification, and behavioral prediction, directly impacting individuals’ autonomy, identity, and freedom. This thesis was developed within the Graduate Program in Law (PPGD) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in the field of concentration Contemporary Legal Theories, under the research line Human Rights, Society, and Art. The objective of the study is to critically analyze the right to be forgotten within the Brazilian legal system, in light of the structural transformations promoted by surveillance capitalism, examining its tensions with freedom of expression, the right to information, and the preservation of collective memory, as well as its potential as an instrument for the protection of human dignity. Although the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), in the judgment of Extraordinary Appeal No. 1,010,606/RJ (General Repercussion Theme 786), established the understanding that the right to be forgotten is incompatible with the Federal Constitution, this thesis argues that such a decision does not preclude legal protection against the undue perpetuation of strictly private information lacking contemporary public interest. It is maintained that, under a systematic interpretation of the Constitution, personality rights, and the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (Law No. 13,709/2018), the right to be forgotten may be applied to private facts, whether true or false, including content generated by deepfakes. The research adopts an exploratory methodology, grounded in bibliographic and documentary review, encompassing national and foreign doctrine, legislation, constitutional and infraconstitutional jurisprudence, as well as theoretical contributions from digital law, fundamental rights theory, and contemporary critical legal studies. The incorporation of the theory of surveillance capitalism allows the right to be forgotten to be understood not merely as a punctual conflict between rights, but as a normative response to informational power asymmetries and to the transformation of human experience into raw material for control and profit. The results point to the urgent need for the application of privacy protection in the digital environment, recognizing the relevant role of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD) as a legal and extrajudicial instrument for containing the excesses of surveillance capitalism. It is concluded that the formal denial of the right to be forgotten by the Supreme Federal Court, in a specific case involving public interest, does not eliminate the urgency of applying this same institute to protect dignity, digital identity, and human rights, contributing to the construction of a normative balance between individual and collective interests in a society marked by continuous surveillance and the massive circulation of data.