Brazil sues chat platform Discord over failure to protect child users

The lawsuit is the latest instance of Brazil taking aggressive steps to rein in tech giants over child safety issues online.The Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against the chat platform Discord, seeking millions of dollars in damages over alleged failures to protect children and teenage social media users.The $97m lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, comes after what the Brazilian government describes as failed negotiations with the company.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Brazil fines TikTok $30m for child data privacy violationslist 2 of 3Meta agrees to settlement, platform changes in youth addiction caselist 3 of 3TikTok settles with US Justice Department for $400m over child privacy lawsend of listThe complaint argues that Discord failed to abide by laws designed to protect young social media users.“The lawsuit seeks to compel the Discord platform to adopt effective measures to protect children, adolescents, and women in the digital environment,” the government said in a statement, calling for compensation for “collective moral damages”.The company, however, has pushed back, saying the lawsuit is excessively harsh and does not accurately depict its compliance with the country’s laws.The lawsuit is the latest instance of a social media company facing scrutiny for allegedly exposing young users to harmful content or eroding their mental health through addictive technology products.Critics say that tech giants have been slow to implement protective measures, despite evidence linking excessive social media use to mental health issues among young people.In many cases, plaintiffs have argued that social media companies have prioritised user engagement and profit over health and safety concerns.Tech companies, however, have countered that they should not be held responsible for all the content published on their platforms, nor for how users interact with the software.In Brazil, scrutiny fell on Discord in July, after a case in the western state of Mato Grosso do Sul captured the public’s attention.