Civil liability for moral damages in the digital age

Abstract

This research analyzes civil liability for moral damages in the digital age, focusing on the demarcation between legitimate criticism and civil wrongdoing in virtual environments. It starts from the assertion that traditional liability criteria prove insufficient in the face of phenomena such as virality, anonymity, and coordinated attacks, which amplify the scope and persistence of harm. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, based on bibliographic review and jurisprudential analysis, with emphasis on the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet and the General Data Protection Law. As a result, it identifies the need to reformulate the analysis of causation and the extent of moral damage in the digital environment. As a contribution, it proposes a model of cumulative legal criteria nature of the information, public interest, form of expression, scale, persistence, verifiable damage, and expanded causality capable of distinguishing legitimate criticism from compensable wrongdoing. It concludes that the adoption of these parameters contributes to greater legal certainty and effectiveness in the protection of personality rights.