Discord halts livestreams in Brazil after watchdog cites child safety
failures
[August 18, 2026] By
ELÉONORE HUGHES and MAURICIO SAVARESE
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Discord, the popular platform for gamers to
communicate online, said on Monday it suspended its livestreams in
Brazil after criticism that it failed to protect children and
adolescents. The move takes place in the wake of a suicide case.
Brazil's government under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the
country's Supreme Court have tried to regulate the use of the internet
by minors, with mixed results so far, at a moment when countries,
including Australia, Canada and Indonesia, are undertaking similar
efforts.
The decision comes after Brazil's national agency of data protection
ordered the suspension last week. The U.S.-based company added it is in
conversations “to seek a solution that allows us to reestablish those
resources for our users in Brazil.”
“We remain committed to working with public policymakers in Brazil to
help create an online experience that is safer for all, on Discord and
across the internet,” said the platform.
A suicide draws attention to digital protections for minors
In July, an underage girl in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul was
allegedly coerced by other users into committing suicide during a
livestream on the platform, putting the company under increased
scrutiny.
Brazil’s first lady Rosângela Lula da Silva, known as Janja, said on
Aug. 6 that the platform should be taken offline, citing the case.
“I can’t accept seeing a 13-year-old girl self-harming live on the
internet, on Discord, hanging herself and dying,” said Janja at a
ceremony in the capital, Brasilia, during which Lula signed a law that
increases the punishment for those who commit sexual violence against
children and adolescents.
Five teenagers were arrested in connection with the death, according to
an Aug. 4 statement by Brazil’s justice ministry.
“Livestreams have been repeatedly used to facilitate violence,
harassment and the incitement of self-harm and suicide,” the country's
data protection agency said in a statement Wednesday.
The agency cited robust evidence that the company had not sufficiently
prevented risks of exposure to content that “represent serious
violations of the rights of children and adolescents within its service,
especially inducement, incitement, instigation, or assistance to
violence, self-harm, and suicide,” it said.
Discord has more than 90 million active daily users worldwide, according
to its website.
In a statement to The Associated Press Wednesday, Discord said groups or
individuals who promote or encourage violence have no place on the
platform. It denied that the July case was shown live.
The platform said it was committed to user safety and has dedicated
teams working “to disrupt violent groups, remove violative content and
take action against bad actors on our platform.”
It added that it had investigated a private server where individuals
involved in criminal activity are believed to have encouraged self-harm,
and shut it down before the recent death of the 13-year-old.
[to top of second column] |
 Discord complaints surge as
Brazil confronts online threats to children and teens
In recent years, Discord has been cited in investigations and
reports worldwide involving extreme violence, including threats or
planning related to school attacks, the distribution of abusive
material, grooming and coercion of minors, and the encouragement of
self-harm and suicide.
The number of complaints involving Discord between January and July
increased by 54% compared to the same period last year, according to
data from Safernet Brazil, a nonprofit that defends human rights on
the internet.
The case of the 13-year-old girl “is not an isolated episode, but
the tragic outcome of a pattern that we have documented and
denounced for years,” Thiago Tavares, the organization's president,
said in a statement on Aug. 11.
Tavares added that Brazil’s digital law imposed “clear duties of
prevention, risk mitigation, age verification and cooperation with
the authorities” and that non-compliance must generate
accountability.
But Thiago Ayub, director of technology at Sage Networks, a company
specializing in network engineering, criticized the agency’s
decision, which he attributed largely to Janja’s comment.
“The most immediate consequence is the migration of users that
inappropriately and even criminally use the platform to another one
which isn’t under the spotlight,” Ayub said. “In this way, the
protection of children and adolescents diminishes instead of
increasing.”
Brazil’s internet regulations put pressure on Discord, X and
other platforms
Brazil rolled out a law seeking to boost protection of minors online
earlier this year. The law requires that minors under 16 link their
social media accounts to a legal guardian to ensure supervision.
Digital services must also implement an effective age verification
mechanism that goes beyond self-declaration that the user is over 18
to protect them from accessing inappropriate or prohibited material.
In February, Discord postponed its controversial age verification
policy after receiving backlash from users with concerns about their
privacy. It later said in a statement that it was nonetheless
rolling out age assurance measures to comply with Brazilian law.
The Trump administration has accused Brazil of targeting American
social-media companies, and cited the issue among the reasons for
imposing tariffs on Brazilian imports.
In 2024, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the shutdown of X until the
network owned by Elon Musk complied with orders to remove accounts
spreading disinformation.
___
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
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