Brazil’s federal government on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Discord, Inc., accusing the messaging platform of violating national child protection laws.
The Brazilian Attorney General’s Office, the Advocacia-Geral da Union (AGU), brought this forward suit in the Federal Court, seeking about R$500 million (US$97 million) in damages. The AGU alleges a violation of Brazilian laws regarding age verification systems, parental controls and content moderation.
The alleged violations point to the Brazilian law ECA Digital (ECA). enacted in 2025. The ECA changes Brazil’s 1990 Statute of children and young people Law on the application of protective measures to digital platforms. The law requires digital platforms to apply strict security and privacy controls as standard and integrate security mechanisms such as age verification and parental controls into the design of their platforms. The law is enforced by the Brazilian data protection authority, the Autoridade Nacional de Protecao de Dados (ANPD). Under the ECA, violators can be fined R$50 million (US$9.7 million) for each violation.
Ten different claims are made in AGU’s complaint Violations Violations of the law, including inadequate age verification controls, lack of parental monitoring systems, and failure to moderate content. The lawsuit follows ANPD’s recent actions affecting Discord exposed banned from operating in Brazil due to the same child safety concerns. Discord’s suspension remains in effect regardless of Wednesday’s lawsuit. after to government officials. In one opinionsaid AGU Minister Jorge Messias:
(translated from (Portuguese) This platform has allowed illegal behavior based on what we describe as inadequate protection for women, children and young people (…). As often as we detect this type of practice, we will take measures to curb this type of unacceptable behavior throughout the national territory.
This follows increasing global concerns about the safety and protection of children in an evolving digital landscape. In July the European Commission TikTok has failed to meet child safety requirements according to the EU Commission Digital Services Act. A groundbreaking US federal trial began earlier this month, with a coalition of states filing suit $1.4 trillion in penalties against Meta for youth safety violations.
