Brazil keeps Discord live streams suspended

Update, August 21, 2026: Brazil’s ANPD expanded the basis for the suspension and said Go Live had allegedly been used repeatedly to commit serious crimes involving people under 18. The authority also released more details about the triggering case and the moderation failures it identified in Discord.

Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority, or ANPD, has ordered Discord to suspend its Go Live livestreaming feature and equivalent video tools in the country as a preventive measure, without blocking the platform itself. The order remains in place until the company shows adequate protections for minors, in a case the regulator tied to serious risks for children and teenagers.

What did the ANPD order?

The ANPD ordered Discord to stop Go Live and similar video streaming and sharing functions in Brazil under a preventive suspension lasting three business days. The order does not amount to a full shutdown of the service, but it does cover the live broadcasting tools the regulator considers problematic.

According to G1 Globo and Poder360, the decision applies only to live features and not to Discord as a whole. Exame said resuming the tools will depend on explicit prior authorization from the ANPD.

Why did the regulator intervene?

The ANPD said Go Live had allegedly been used repeatedly to commit serious crimes, putting the physical and psychological safety of people under 18 at risk. That wording broadens the case beyond a single incident and frames the issue as a pattern of abusive use of the feature.

Agência Brasil reported that the case that triggered the investigation took place on July 22, when a 13-year-old girl in Naviraí, in Mato Grosso do Sul, was allegedly coerced into taking her own life during a live stream on Discord channels. Coverage from Infobae and El Imparcial had already linked the measure to that incident, while La Diaria said the suspension would remain in place until Discord showed sufficient protections for minors.

What flaws did the ANPD find?

According to Metrópoles, an internal technical memo from the ANPD concluded that Discord’s automated moderation system failed to assess the serious episode involving the teenager and that the company did not demonstrate enough mechanisms to detect and stop situations involving people under 18 at risk.

Investing.com also reported that the authority identified a technical problem in the lack of real-time access to livestream content, which would make automated detection of violations harder. The same report said Discord could face fines of up to 50 million reais per violation and would have 10 business days to appeal the decision.

What will Discord have to show before live features return?

The ANPD has not yet set out a closed list of requirements, but BBC coverage indicated that adequate protections for minors could include age verification mechanisms. That offers a sense of the safeguards the regulator expects before live streaming is restored.

Exame also said the precautionary suspension is not limited to Go Live, but extends to equivalent video sharing tools, and that the company could only resume those services after explicit authorization from the Brazilian authority.