Relator Files Revised Bill to Regulate Big Tech With Narrowed Obligations

Overview

• Deputy Aliel Machado filed his formal report on the government’s digital markets bill on Wednesday, July 8, and the text is set for an urgent plenary vote in the Chamber before it goes to the Senate.
• The relator changed automatic platform duties so that being labeled an “agent of systemic relevance” will not trigger blanket rules and obligations will apply only to specific services, products, or modalities.
• Designation will rest on size and market features with numerical thresholds tied to inflation—global annual revenue above R$50 billion or Brazil revenue above R$5 billion adjusted by IPCA—plus factors like multi‑sided markets, network effects, vertical integration, third‑party dependence, and control of large data sets.
• The bill creates a special superintendence inside Cade to oversee digital markets whose chief will be named by the president and require Senate approval for a two‑year term, and it adds procedural safeguards such as public consultations, a consultative council with heavy academic and civil‑society representation, and a voluntary compliance pathway for platforms.
• The text gives Cade power to impose targeted remedies such as transparency on ranking, data portability and interoperability, bans on self‑preferencing, and monetary penalties including a R$20,000 daily fine that can be raised for effectiveness, which could change how consumers and smaller firms access digital services.