On Wednesday, a Brazilian Federal Court ruled that the social network Discord must urgently adopt measures to protect children and adolescents using the platform, under penalty of a daily fine of 100,000 reais (equivalent to $19,000 usd).
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The decision by the 14th Federal Civil Court of the Federal District was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian government in August, following the death by suicide of a young woman a month earlier while participating in a video call on the platform.
In the lawsuit, the State Attorney’s Office argued that Discord has flaws regarding user age verification and protection mechanisms against serious risks.
Although Discord denied liability for the young woman’s death—claiming the broadcast of the incident took place on a different social network—the judge determined that various actions leading up to the suicide occurred within the platform in question.
The suicide of the 13-year-old girl during a video call with other users gained national attention after First Lady Rosângela “Janja” da Silva highlighted the case and called for action to be taken against the platform.
Crimes online, falha em moderação e falta de acordo: por que o Discord foi processado em R$ 500 milhões pelo governo |G1 https://t.co/bJZfUpH1va
‘Panelas’ no Discord escondem ‘as mais perversas formas de crime’ contra crianças, diz policial infiltrada | G1 https://t.co/bcFfnoMmk2— oogie (@woowgiee) September 28, 2026
The text reads, “Online crimes, moderation failures, and lack of cooperation: why the government sued Discord for R$ 500 million | G1 https://share.google/ag3CzE2I42TdZ5cQa Discord ‘cliques’ harbor ‘the most perverse forms of crime’ against children, says undercover police officer”
According to documents cited in the legal proceedings, the victim and another 17-year-old girl were subjected to threats and coercion within Discord communities. Between August and September, Brazilian police arrested suspects accused of inciting the young woman to self-harm. Some of the suspects, who were minors, have since been released.
Court-Ordered Measures
The measures to be implemented include a ban on recreating servers, channels, and communities that had been removed for violating community guidelines; …the creation of a protocol for situations involving sexual extortion of children or adolescents, and the verification of the existence and effectiveness of parental supervision for underage users.
The platform must also demonstrate operational capacity in Portuguese to moderate content and receive reports within Brazil, show how it verifies age, and present a plan for legal compliance.
In this regard, Discord must maintain a legal representative in Brazil and a reporting channel in Portuguese, and liaise with competent national authorities regarding content related to self-harm, suicide, and severe violence.
The company will also be required to link the accounts of children and adolescents up to the age of 16 to those of their legal guardians and verify the functionality of parental supervision tools.
Other countries, such as Russia and Turkey, have gone so far as to block Discord’s services, while the U.S. state of Texas launched an investigation last year into the dissemination of extremist content among minors.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rallied thousands of supporters in Belém’s Republic Square during the final stage of the presidential campaign.
Addressing the crowd, Lula expressed confidence in the vote and sent a clear message to his opponent, Senator Flávio… pic.twitter.com/GPR3zhTRH3
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) September 29, 2026
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