A letter to the Discord community in Brazil

Scroll down to read this letter in Portuguese and learn more on our Help Center.
Role para baixo para ler esta carta em português e saiba mais na nossa Central de Ajuda.
You may have already heard about an order from Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) requiring us to suspend screensharing and video features in Brazil.
We’re complying with the order and working with the ANPD in good faith, which means that screensharing and video calls will be unavailable for Brazilian users starting now. We are working hard to restore access to these important features as quickly as possible.
This is a serious situation. The order follows a devastating case involving the death of a teenage girl after a coordinated sadistic harm campaign that was carried out across multiple platforms. We work every day to keep these actors off our platform and to make Discord safer for teens. We have been and continue to collaborate with law enforcement in this matter.
We know how much these impacted features matter to our community in Brazil. Gamers, developers, small businesses, and communities of all kinds across Brazil rely on Discord. Friends use video calls to spend time together and screenshare for all sorts of reasons, including just hanging out and sharing what they’re playing.

Facts Only

* Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) issued an order regarding screensharing and video features.
* The platform is complying with the ANPD order and working with them in good faith.
* Screensharing and video calls are currently unavailable for Brazilian users.
* The suspension of features began immediately following the order.
* The action stems from a case involving the death of a teenage girl due to a coordinated sadistic harm campaign across multiple platforms.
* The platform states it works to keep actors off its platform and make Discord safer for teens.
* Users in Brazil rely on these features for social interaction, spending time together, and sharing content.

Executive Summary

A requirement from Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) mandates the suspension of screensharing and video features in Brazil. The platform is complying with this order and collaborating with the ANPD. Consequently, screensharing and video calls are currently unavailable for Brazilian users, while efforts are underway to restore access to these features promptly. This action follows a case involving the death of a teenage girl resulting from a coordinated harm campaign across multiple platforms. The situation impacts users in Brazil who rely on these features for social interaction, content sharing, and community building.

Full Take

The narrative centers on the tension between platform operation, regulatory compliance, and societal responsibility concerning user safety. The core dynamic involves a platform's reactive measure to fulfill a legal mandate stemming from a severe external event. This situation forces an immediate, tangible restriction of features relied upon by a large community, creating friction between the need for immediate safety measures (as framed by the tragic context) and the established utility of those features for diverse groups like gamers, developers, and small businesses in Brazil. The implications suggest that when systemic harm is identified, the control mechanisms—even those related to social interaction—become subject to external legal authority. The broader pattern involves how digital infrastructure responds to accountability; understanding what drives the necessity for such drastic feature limitations versus the impact on community cohesion requires examining who benefits from the resulting dependency structures and the methods used to enforce systemic safety across decentralized systems.