The Brazilian government on Wednesday said it was suing the Discord messaging platform for nearly $100 million in damages over its alleged failure to protect children from harmful content and demanded it adopt stronger safeguards.
Brazil’s National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) ordered Discord to suspend livestreams earlier this month after a 13-year-old girl was goaded into killing herself during a livestream.
A government statement said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the capital, Brasilia, was brought after failed negotiations with Discord, whose proposals were “deemed insufficient to eliminate the identified risks.”
“The lawsuit seeks to compel the Discord platform to adopt effective measures to protect children, adolescents, and women in the digital environment,” said the statement.
“It also requests that the company be ordered to pay R$ 500 million ($97 million) in compensation for collective moral damages.”
