ANPD Suspends Discord Live Video Features in Brazil

Overview

• The ANPD ordered the suspension of live and equivalent video features in private Discord servers on Wednesday, August 12, and gave the company three business days to block the tools while the administrative process continues.
• The measure followed a July 22 live in Naviraí in which a 13-year-old was threatened, induced to self-harm and died; police detained five adolescents and arrested an 18-year-old in the probe.
• Discord has acknowledged its automated alert pipeline failed to flag the session in time, logging a risk score of 0.12 against an intervention threshold of 0.95 and removing the server about 25 minutes after police first warned the company.
• The decision has prompted political pushback and legal challenges, with some politicians calling the move censorship and a São Paulo lawmaker asking the Federal Public Ministry to seek judicial review while AGU and prosecutors explore conduct terms and possible sanctions.
• Authorities cite at least seven police operations since 2023 that used Discord in violent or self‑harm cases and say the incident highlights the limits of end‑to‑end encryption and the need for demonstrable, compensatory safety controls or fines of up to R$50 million under the ECA Digital.