Brazil orders Discord to suspend live streams in the country

Brazil’s National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) on Wednesday (Aug. 12) ordered that Discord, the company that owns the communication app of the same name, suspend its live streaming and video-sharing features in Brazil.

The company has up to three days to comply with the order, which is preventive in nature and must be followed until the organization demonstrates it has implemented measures to protect children and adolescents. The company may appeal the decision within ten business days.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Discord proposes measures to strengthen child safety in Brazil.
• Brazil’s data protection agency launches investigation into Discord.

The measure aims to curb incidents of violence and coercion against minors under 18 years of age, such as the one that occurred on July 22, when a 13-year-old girl from Naviraí, in Mato Grosso do Sul state, was coerced into taking her own life during a live broadcast on Discord channels.

The suicide was the focus of Operation Lívia, launched by the state’s police and the country’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security to further investigate an alleged criminal organization suspected of luring kids into online communities, where they were subjected to psychological coercion and persuaded to commit acts of extreme violence against animals (mainly cats), self-harm challenges, and even suicide.

Five adolescents aged 13 to 17 were taken into custody, and an 18-year-old man was arrested during the first phase of the crackdown. Eight search and seizure warrants were also executed in four other states besides Mato Grosso do Sul – Ceará, Minas Gerais, Pará, and Rio de Janeiro, where the operation was carried out with the cooperation of local police officers.

Suspension

Prompted by the teenager’s suicide, the ANPD launched an investigation last Friday (7) into the platform, with the aim of determining whether there were any indications of failures in protecting users, particularly children and adolescents.

In a statement released late Wednesday morning (12), in addition to announcing the decision to order the company to preventively suspend its live streams, the agency stated it had identified “failures in the implementation of structural measures and procedures to prevent and combat serious violations.”

“Due to the technical architecture it employs, Discord does not have access to the content of video streams while they are in progress, which makes it impossible to use tools for analyzing audiovisual content and detecting violations in real time at the server level. The platform relies on flawed automated systems and reports from the participants themselves in these environments where such violations occur,” the agency states.

The authority also emphasized that the platform is not being blocked.

“What the preventive measure suspends is the Go Live feature, used for live streams on closed servers,” added the ANPD, assuring that it had gathered “sufficient evidence to justify the need for this emergency action.”

According to the agency, the Go Live feature “has been repeatedly used to commit serious crimes, endangering the physical and mental well-being of minors under the age of 18.”

Dialogue

When contacted, the company reaffirmed in a statement its commitment to the safety of its users.

“Discord maintains an ongoing dialogue with Brazilian authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, and has been proactive in reporting individuals to Brazilian law enforcement, contributing to operations that have resulted in arrests,” Discord stated.

In line with previously released statements, the platform affirmed that it “does not tolerate groups or individuals who promote or encourage violence […].”

“We have teams dedicated to dismantling these groups, removing content that violates our policies, and taking action against those responsible for such conduct.”

The platform also said it hopes to continue its dialogue with public policymakers in Brazil “to promote a safer online experience for all users, across the entire internet.” The company added that it is cooperating with law enforcement authorities in the investigation into the suicide of the teenager from Naviraí.

“Discord investigated a private server where individuals believed to be involved in criminal activities are alleged to have encouraged [the young woman’s] self-harm and deactivated it before the teenager’s death. Access to the private server was by invitation only and could not be found by other users [of the platform],” Discord concluded, attributing to its reports and actions the identification and subsequent arrest of “violent extremists.”