Jornal Do Brasilia - Brazil orders suspension of Discord livestreams after teen suicide

In a case described by one police officer as a "real-life horror show", a 13-year-old girl in a small city in the center-west of Brazil was incited during a 45-minute July livestream on Discord to self-harm and eventually kill herself.

Five teenagers have been arrested in connection to the death and a police operation saved "another girl who was about to commit suicide live on the internet," a police statement said.

"Live streams have been repeatedly used to facilitate violence, harassment, and the incitement of self-harm and suicide," said the ANPD data protection agency, which gave Discord three days to comply with the suspension.

The ANPD cited "robust evidence that the company failed to adopt reasonable measures" to protect children and teenagers from such content.

In a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday prior to the decision, Discord said it was "cooperating with authorities in the investigation into this serious case."

Brazil has in recent months sought to boost protections for children online, obliging platforms to link the accounts of users under age 16 to their parents' accounts, and verify user age.

Alessandro Barreto, coordinator of the Justice Ministry's Ciberlab intelligence unit, slammed a "terrible failure in moderation" by Discord.

"We witnessed truly outrageous acts being broadcast online," he said.

He said the girl had been incited to kill an animal but "she couldn't do it" and was then incited to kill herself, "all of it broadcast live."

"We used to see adults grooming minors. Now, what do we see? Minors grooming other minors to commit barbaric acts. It's called digital slavery. Girls are being enslaved online and coerced into committing truly barbaric acts."

Barreto said one of those arrested, a 14-year-old boy, was "smiling as if he had just beaten a level in a game."

"The parents of most of the detained adolescents were completely taken by surprise."

Following the recent death, Rosangela da Silva, wife of left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called for the US-based Discord to be shut down and urged "the judiciary to remove this horrible network from the Internet."

Discord claims more than 90 million active daily users worldwide.

In 2024, the platform X was blocked for 40 days in Brazil, until the social media network owned by the world's richest man Elon Musk complied with the Supreme Court's orders to remove accounts spreading disinformation.

Brazil's crackdown -- mostly targeting disinformation -- angered US President Donald Trump, who has accused the country of attacking American social media companies.

This was one of the stated reasons for the imposition of recent tariffs on Brazilian goods.

P. Gomes--JDB