As one of the largest markets in the world, Brazil’s approach to protecting children online, and perhaps other elements of platform regulation, is likely to garner influence abroad
The Brazilian Government has approved the Digital ECA law, setting up its code for keeping kids safe online
On 17 September 2025, the Brazilian Government signed PL 2628/2022, the Law for the protection of children and adolescents in digital environments or the “Digital ECA”, into law, strengthening obligations on platforms to protect minors online. The law, which was first proposed in 2022, gained additional support after widely circulated social media videos highlighted the sexual exploitation of Brazilian minors online in August 2025. Platforms will be required to implement protections for both children (defined as under 12) and adolescents (defined as under 18) within six months, after the Government vetoed a transitional period of one-year, citing concerns with delaying protections given the seriousness of the harms children face. The law provides for the creation of a new regulator to enforce these obligations to be established in future legislation, although some legislators had recommended assigning the remit to the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel). The maximum penalties for non-compliance with the Digital ECA include fines of whichever is greater between 10% of a firm’s Brazilian revenue or BRL50m (£6.8m) and temporary or permanent suspension of services in Brazil.
The law sets no strict age limit for accessing digital services but imposes a series of obligations on all platforms
As the Digital ECA does not set a strict age limit for accessing digital services, all platforms that would be considered “likely to be accessed” by minors will face new obligations for protecting children. This definition includes any platform that is sufficiently attractive to minors, is easy enough for a minor to navigate and likely to pose a risk to a minor’s risk to privacy, security or biopsychosocial development. App stores and operating systems will be required to implement effective age assurance tools (from which the law explicitly excludes self-declaration) and to provide an application programming interface (API) for app makers to verify users’ ages. For all children and adolescents under 16, platforms must require a linked parental account, which provides access to management and supervision tools, such as the ability to set screen time limits or disable personalised recommender systems. Platforms will also be held responsible for removing illegal content that violates the rights of children upon notification from parents, victims or institutions designated for supporting child protection; this context specifically includes child sexual abuse material (CSAM), exploitation, violence, kidnapping and grooming. Specific to gaming platforms, the law also prohibits the use of “loot boxes” in games accessible to minors, which are randomised rewards that often encourage longer periods of time spent playing the game or require a user to gamble some amount of money. Platforms will also no longer be able to use minors’ personal data in targeted advertising and must default all accounts held by minors to the highest levels of privacy protections offered by the service.
The Digital ECA is the first in a series of expected platform regulations likely to distinguish Brazil’s approach to digital policymaking
Unlike other recent, international developments in child protection legislation, the Digital ECA does not assume access to social media or other digital services is inherently harmful to children. Instead, the law represents an attempt to remove or mitigate harms within services while allowing parents or guardians to make decisions about what platforms their child should be able to access and under what circumstances. With the Government also proposing a law on digital competition on the same it finalised its child protection legislation, the Digital ECA is also one in a series of policy changes that are likely to distinguish the Brazilian approach to platform regulation globally. Though often compared to Australia or Canada for its efforts to differentiate its digital playbook, Brazil is one of the largest markets for platform services in the world, closer in size to the US or EU. As the Government continues to advance its agenda on reining in the power of big tech and better protecting users online, the Brazilian rulebook could prove instructive, especially to other governments in the Global South, and all the more influential in international regulatory debates.
