Brazil orders Discord to suspend livestreaming after teen suicide

Brazil has ordered Discord to suspend its livestreaming features while authorities investigate whether the platform failed to protect children from content encouraging self-harm and suicide.

The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) said Wednesday that Discord’s Go Live feature must remain disabled until the company can show that it has put effective safeguards in place to protect children and teenagers.

The order follows the death of a 13-year-old girl in central-western Brazil whom authorities say was encouraged to harm herself during a roughly 45-minute livestream on Discord in July.

Five teenagers have been arrested in connection with the case. Police also intervened in a separate incident involving a girl who was preparing to die by suicide during an online broadcast.

The investigation uncovered groups of teenagers who allegedly used online communities, including Telegram, to spread neo-Nazi, antisemitic and misogynistic material, recruit members and discuss violent acts.

Brazil’s national secretary for digital rights, Victor Fernandes, said Discord and Telegram had violated rules intended to protect women and children online.

“On Discord, a suicide was livestreamed in an environment involving teenagers,” Fernandes said. “The material remained available and took some time to be removed.”

Authorities subsequently ordered the platforms to delete the material and moved to suspend the servers where it had been shared, he said.

'Robust evidence' of safety failures

The ANPD said Wednesday that it had found “robust evidence” that Discord failed to take reasonable steps to protect children and teenagers from harmful content, particularly material promoting or facilitating violence, self-harm or suicide.

The regulator stressed that Discord itself is not being blocked in Brazil. The order applies only to Go Live, which lets users broadcast video to others.

“The goal is to reduce the risk of serious or irreparable harm to which children and adolescents are being exposed,” the agency said.

The regulator said Discord’s technical setup makes it particularly difficult to prevent abuse during livestreams because the company cannot access the video content as it is being broadcast. This limits Discord’s ability to automatically detect harmful content in real time, leaving it largely dependent on automated systems and reports from users on individual servers, the agency added.

Brazilian authorities also criticized Discord’s decision to add end-to-end encryption to Go Live in March, saying the change further limited the company’s ability to detect harmful activity as it happened. The ANPD said Discord’s existing safeguards either came into play only after harm had occurred or did little to prevent it in the first place.

The ANPD said the suspension will remain in place until Discord can show that it has introduced effective measures to address the risks identified by regulators. Discord has three business days to demonstrate that it has fully implemented the suspension across Brazil.

In a statement to Brazilian news outlet UOL, Discord confirmed that it had received the order and was reviewing it, adding that the regulator’s description of its safety practices “does not reflect the platform nor the investments made in user security.”

The company also called the decision to suspend livestreaming in Brazil “premature.”

“We look forward to continuing our conversations with policymakers in Brazil to promote a safer online experience for all users, both on Discord and across the internet,” the company added.

Broader investigation

Brazilian authorities are also investigating whether Discord has adequate age-verification systems and whether the company failed to remove prohibited content or properly report violations to authorities.

The regulator said it could impose additional requirements as the investigation continues.

If violations are confirmed, Discord could face fines of up to 50 million Brazilian reais, or roughly $10 million, per violation.

The Brazilian action comes amid broader scrutiny of Discord’s ability to protect younger users.

A recent analysis by Brazilian digital rights organization SaferNet of Discord’s own disclosures to the European Union found that child and adolescent protection historically accounted for a large share of the company’s reported moderation decisions in Europe.

Reports submitted to SaferNet Brasil involving Discord have also increased significantly since 2024. The organization said it received 406 reports involving the platform during the first seven months of 2026 alone.

Discord, which is particularly popular with gamers, has more than 90 million users globally and generally requires users to be at least 13 years old.

The platform has previously faced restrictions elsewhere. Russia and Turkey blocked Discord in 2024, with authorities in both countries accusing the company of failing to adequately police illegal material.

Russian regulators alleged Discord was being used for extremist and terrorist activity, recruitment and drug trafficking. Turkish authorities cited allegations involving child abuse, blackmail and online harassment when they blocked the service.