This Wednesday, October 15, the Brazilian Government launched two public consultations regarding the rights and the protection of minors on the internet. Among other purposes, these initiatives aim to gather inputs to support the development of new regulations for the recently enacted Statute #15.211/25 (the Digital ECA), which establish rules for protecting children and adolescents in the digital environment.

Age Verification on the Internet. The first consultation aims to collect contributions from companies, experts, public administration bodies and other sectors about the technical and legal parameters to implement safe and efficient age verification mechanisms. This is a global concern, which the Digital ECAalso addressed by stating that Online Service Providers (OSPs) must implement reliable age verification mechanisms to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content.

The consultation focuses on the main challenges to developing and implementing such mechanisms, which include:

• General considerations for age verification, including its purpose and principles, the appropriate moment for verification, and the methods to be applied;
• Key challenges within the Brazilian context, including how to ensure that methods are proportionate to the risks to the health, physical and psychological integrity, and rights of children and adolescents;
• Concerns on balancing effectiveness with personal data protection, and the implementation of mechanisms designed to address these concerns
• Mechanisms to prevent the misuse of age verification for harmful purposes, as well as to avoid excluding citizens from the digital environment due to lack of access to these verification technologies.

National Policy for  the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in the Digital Environment. Recognizing the growing risks and potential harms of digital technologies on minors’ rights, this consultation has two main goals: (i) to gather supporting information to develop new regulations for the Digital ECA, and (ii) to develop a national policy on the matter.

A national policy is a set of guidelines, principles, objectives, and actions defined by the State to organize and guide a specific area of public interest at national level. These policies are typically established through laws, decrees, or ordinances and aim to guarantee rights, promote development, and ensure the integrated delivery of public services across federal, state, and municipal levels.

For this purpose, the consultation asks participants to submit their perceptions of risks and opportunities related to each topic below:

• Combating all forms of violence and exploitation in digital environments;
• Making content and app functionality age-appropriate for children and adolescents;
• Data protection and privacy;
• Reporting channels;
• Reporting flow to domestic and foreign authorities;
• Parental supervision mechanisms;
• Content moderation;
• Child-targeted advertising;
• Transparency and impact reports;
• Meaningful connectivity;
• Digital and media education;
• Health, prevention, and care regarding the impacts of digital use;
• Family and community interaction;
• Participation of children and adolescents;
• Electronic games;
• Artificial intelligence.

Both consultations are open until November 14, allowing participation from domestic and foreign entities. These consultations represent an opportunity for engagement in shaping positive and reasonable regulations, while also allowing stakeholders to closely follow the development of new rules, which is an essential step for tech companies seeking to operate in compliance with Brazilian law.

Our team is closely monitoring these consultations and other developments involving digital regulation in Brazil. Should you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us at info@lickslegal.com.