Discord ordered to block live streams after teenager dies in Brazil
Discord has 3 days to comply.
Image by Getty/Nur Photo
- Brazil ordered Discord to block live streaming nationwide after alleged suicide incitement involving teenage girls.
- The data protection agency says Discord lacks safeguards to detect self-harm, violence, and life-threatening abuse in private streams.
- Authorities are investigating a suspected criminal group accused of using Discord to encourage minors to harm themselves.
- Discord faces fines above $9 million per incident if it fails to comply with Brazil’s order.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
At least 2 teenage girls in Brazil were allegedly encouraged to commit suicide on Discord, and one more teenager died after a group incited her to take her own life.
Brazil’s national data protection agency (ANPD) has ordered Discord to block its live streaming features across the country in an effort to protect children and teenagers from violence online.
All of Discord’s live streaming and other video-sharing features should be shut down in Brazil until the company demonstrates appropriate safety measures for children and young people.
This comes after ANPD began investigating Discord for evidence of non-compliance with the Digital Statute for Children (ECA Digital), an extensive child-protection plan focused on age assurance, parental controls, and risk management.
Which comes after the watchdog and Brazilian authorities began investigating a “criminal group” believed to be involved in an incident that resulted in a teenager's death.
The group is said to be operating on Discord and is suspected of encouraging young girls to self-harm or end their lives, according to a machine-translated statement from ANPD.
This incident didn’t appear to happen on a public livestream. Instead, the group likely used Discord’s “Go Live” feature.
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Go Live isn’t the same as a public live stream – it's more like a private meeting on Teams or a WhatsApp group chat where users can share their screen with close friends in a closed environment.
The feature is generally used by users to share their screens so that group members can watch a private video game stream in real time, instead of opening a public Discord or YouTube stream.
Discord can support up to 50 participants, more than you can have in a WhatsApp video call, which supports roughly 32 users.
Now, ANPD has ordered Discord to suspend its live streaming functions, as it's been frequently used to facilitate violent crimes over the years, according to the watchdog.
By design, Discord lacks the appropriate features to mitigate violence, self-harm, and risks to life on its platform, according to Brazil’s Superintendency of Data Protection (SFI).
Discord apparently doesn’t have real-time access to Go Live video streams, which means they can’t moderate calls or analyze content, which is vital in detecting violations.
Furthermore, ANPD claims that Discord modified its Go Live feature, which allegedly made it even less safe.
Cybernews has reached out to Discord to confirm ANPD’s claims.
Failure to comply with the watchdog’s demands will cost Discord over $9 million per incident (R$50 million), likely meaning that every Go Live stream will cost them millions.
