Lula government proposes 12-hour deadline for social networks to report child risk cases to the Federal Police

The Ministry of Justice and Public Security is preparing a regulatory order establishing a 12-hour deadline for big tech companies operating digital networks to notify the Federal Police (PF) about posts showing evidence of a "credible, imminent or ongoing risk" to the lives and physical integrity of children and adolescents.

When posts on social networks involve sexual violence, the notification deadline will be 72 hours. Other cases related to exposure and violence in the digital environment must be reported within up to seven days, according to the proposal being drafted by the Lula (PT) administration.

The regulatory order is part of the measures to regulate the Digital ECA (Child and Adolescent Statute), whose law came into effect in September 2025.

The Digital ECA requires big tech companies operating in Brazilian territory to remove and report content showing apparent exploitation, sexual abuse, kidnapping and grooming, involving direct or indirect use of digital networks.

The government envisions the operation of a National Center for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, within the Federal Police, to receive and investigate reports of exposure, abuse and violence in the digital sphere.

A technical note completed on August 24 by the National Secretariat for Digital Rights, part of the Ministry of Justice, establishes the terms of the regulatory order being drafted. The document was forwarded to the Director-General of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, and to the President of the ANPD (National Data Protection Authority), Waldemar Gonçalves.

The content of the technical note was reported in an article published this Friday (18) by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

The shortest notification deadline for posts, of up to 12 hours, applies to cases of "credible, imminent or ongoing risk, defined as a situation in which available information indicates a concrete and temporally close probability of harm to the life, physical integrity, psychological integrity, freedom or safety of a child or adolescent."

According to the document, meetings and discussions with representatives of digital platforms such as Roblox, Google, Meta, Kwai, Discord, TikTok and Netflix were held in drafting the regulatory order.

"The proposal puts into effect the provisions of the Digital ECA and places Brazil at the forefront of combating online sexual violence against children and adolescents," the technical note states.

"Just as the European Union has been working to establish its own center, Brazil is now joining the first group of countries that take seriously the fight against this gravely serious crime."

The service already offered by Disque 100, through which reports of cases of sexual violence can be submitted, is distinct from the center to be created within the Federal Police, according to the ministry. Within the police force, there will be "a true specialized channel for screening criminal evidence reported in high volumes by technology providers," the technical note states.