Discord ordered to suspend livestreams in Brazil

Brazil’s data protection authority (ANPD) has ordered messaging platform Discord to suspend its livestreaming feature following an alleged incident where a teenage girl was reportedly encouraged to take her own life on the platform. The investigation began on August 7th after the 13-year-old girl's death, which reportedly took place in a Discord server – or group – she was a part of.

The ANPD found Discord lacking real-time access to livestream content, making it difficult to automatically detect violations. The platform, which has over 200 million monthly active users and is popular with gamers, has three days to comply with the suspension. If it fails to do so, it may face fines of up to 50 million reais ($9.67 million) per violation.

Discord has stated it is reviewing the order and committed to user safety, adding that they swiftly removed the server involved in the incident. Five teenagers have been arrested in connection to the girl's death, and the ANPD is waiting for Discord to prove it has implemented adequate protective measures for minors, which could include age verification checks.