The usage of humor as means for questioning is hardly new. It is fair to say, however, that the internet has opened new channels and added new agents to the dynamics of humorous content creation by making it easier to publish and less expensive to produce such material. With the increasing proliferation of content and the maximization of the number of accesses, we may assume an increase in the number of lawsuits attempting to remove offensive content.

In this context, InternetLab started a research project concerned with both the creation and the sharing of humorous content on the Internet. Launched in 2015, the project used humor on the Internet as means for analyzing the tensions created by the production of controversial content.

In order to assess the main aspects of these dilemmas faced by Internet content producers and how the judiciary deals with the matter, InternetLab structured the research in two main phases.

The first involved the gathering of data related to the outcome of civil lawsuits involving humorous content available on the Internet. We analyzed every State Court of Justice in Brazil, particularly interested in (i) the number of rulings which confirmed content removal claims; (ii) the main characteristics of the parties involved; and (iii) the rights involved and claimed by the parties. The second phase aimed to identify the main problems faced by online content producers, either due to the absence of an editorial control, either due to the risks these kinds of content creates, eventually leading to extrajudicial requests for content removal and liability.

The results of the research were published in Conjur, in addition to being presented at the XVII Luso-Hispanic Humor Studies Conference, held in Araraquara-SP in November 2016, and at the International Meeting on Law and Society, held at Mexico City in June 2017.