Brazil orders Discord to suspend livestreaming after 13-year-old's suicide during broadcast

The incident

A 13-year-old girl took her own life on July 22 in Naviraí, in the central-western state of Mato Grosso do Sul, after a 45-minute livestream on Discord during which other participants encouraged her to self-harm and kill herself. The group also urged her to torture and kill a cat, but she was unable to go through with it, according to Alessandro Barreto, coordinator of the Justice Ministry's Ciberlab intelligence unit. The participants sent money to the victim so she could purchase razor blades without her mother's knowledge, investigators said.

Arrests and investigation

Federal Police arrested five teenagers aged 13 to 17 and one 18-year-old adult in connection with the death, on charges of aggravated homicide and membership in a criminal organization. The group, led by a 14-year-old boy arrested in Rio, operated from locations thousands of kilometers apart, with arrests carried out in Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio, Minas Gerais, Ceará, and Pará. Authorities seized computers, cell phones, bladed weapons, and neo-Nazi paraphernalia. A separate police operation saved another girl who was about to commit suicide live on the internet.

Barreto described the case as involving "truly outrageous acts being broadcast online" and said one of those arrested, a 14-year-old boy, was "smiling as if he had just beaten a level in a game."

“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.”

Regulatory action

The ANPD opened its investigation on August 7 and on August 12 ordered Discord to suspend its "Go Live" livestreaming feature within three business days. The agency cited "robust evidence that the company failed to adopt reasonable measures" to protect children and teenagers from content promoting violence, self-harm, and suicide. ANPD inspector Fabricio Lopes, quoted by Brazilian portal G1, clarified that Discord itself would not be blocked, only the Go Live feature. The suspension remains in place until Discord demonstrates implementation of adequate protective measures, which may include age verification checks. Discord faces potential fines of up to 50 million reais ($9.67 million) per violation and can appeal within 10 business days.

Discord's response

Discord told the BBC it was "thoughtfully reviewing" the ANPD's order and said it was "committed to user safety." A spokesperson said evidence showed the criminal activity "was coordinated on other platforms before the Discord server was created" and continued "after the individuals involved were banned from Discord." Discord representatives met with Brazilian authorities on Friday, August 7, and submitted a child protection plan on Monday, August 10. The platform, which has approximately 200 million monthly active users, lacks real-time access to livestream content, which the ANPD said prevents automated detection of violations.

Political pressure

First lady Janja da Silva, wife of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called for Discord to be blocked in Brazil, urging "the judiciary to remove this horrible network from the Internet." Her appeal came during a ceremony where President Lula signed a law extending penalties for sexual aggressors of minors. Brazil has recently moved to strengthen online child protections, requiring platforms to link accounts of users under 16 to their parents' accounts and verify user age under the so-called ECA Digital statute.