Brazil’s data protection authority has ordered Discord to suspend its livestreaming features nationwide, citing the company’s failure to prevent minors from accessing content that promotes violence, self-harm, and suicide.
The Order: The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) issued the measure on Wednesday, giving Discord three business days to demonstrate compliance. Failure to comply may result in fines of up to 50 million reais (about $9.67 million) per violation.
The suspension applies to “Go Live,” Discord’s screen- and camera-sharing livestream tool, and similar video-sharing features. Discord will remain accessible in Brazil, but livestreaming functions will be turned off until the company demonstrates adequate safeguards for users under 18.
What triggered the investigation? ANPD launched its investigation last Friday after a 13-year-old girl in central-western Brazil died by suicide during a 45-minute livestream. Investigators report she was encouraged by members of an online group to harm herself.
Five teenagers and an adult have been arrested in connection with her death. Police stated that the investigation also identified a second girl who was about to attempt suicide on a livestream, and officers intervened in time to save her.
The regulator’s findings: ANPD said it had gathered what it called “robust evidence” that Discord did not take reasonable steps to keep minors from encountering content promoting violence, self-harm and suicide.
A key issue for the agency is that Discord cannot access livestream content in real time, preventing automatic detection and flagging of violations. Instead, Discord relies on what the agency described as flawed automated systems and user reports submitted after streams end.
ANPD also stated that Discord made changes to “Go Live” in early March that reduced protections, noting these changes occurred after Brazil’s child digital protection statute took effect.
The agency reported that Discord’s livestreams have been repeatedly linked to serious crimes and have endangered minors’ physical and mental safety.
Discord’s response: Discord called the agency’s decision “premature.” The company stated it is still working to identify those responsible for the incident under investigation.
Context: The order is the latest instance of Brazilian authorities moving aggressively against foreign tech and social platforms over compliance failures. This happened due to past disputes that led to countrywide suspensions of X and Telegram. It also lands amid a broader wave of scrutiny of Discord’s child-safety practices. The company revised its policies on AI-generated child sexual abuse material and banned teen dating features on the platform in late 2023 after reporting exposed gaps in enforcement.
The suspension follows Discord’s ongoing compliance efforts in Brazil. On March 9, the company introduced age assurance for Brazilian users, ahead of the March 17 implementation of Brazil’s Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA). This system applies more protective default settings to new and existing accounts, such as sensitive-content filtering and message-request screening. Adults must complete an age check, using facial estimation or an ID scan through vendor k-ID, to access age-restricted spaces or adjust these settings. Minors retain these protective settings by default. Importantly, the age-check system controls access to restricted content and settings but does not monitor livestreams once they begin. This limitation was the specific concern cited by ANPD in suspending “Go Live.”
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