THE President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sanctioned on Wednesday (17), in ceremony at the Planalto Palace, the law that protects children and adolescents in the digital environmentsuch as social networks, applications and electronic games.
THE proposal was approved by the National Congress At the end of last month and became known as ECA Digital, alluding to the Child and Adolescent Statute.
One of the news of the law is the provision that inspection and punishment are made by an autonomous national authoritypublic administration entity that will be responsible for ensuring, editing regulations and procedures and overseeing compliance with the new legislation by parts of digital technology companies, including social networks.
Because of this, Lula also signed, in the same event, a Provisional Measure (MP) that transforms National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) into a regulatory agency with new skills for monitoring, inspection and sanction on the obligations provided for in the new legislation.
“One of the MPs we are sending to Congress transforms the National Authority for Data Protection into a National Data Protection Agency, with autonomy to protect children and adolescents on the Internet,” said the president in a speech.
The text of the MP, which has not yet been released, expands the budget, creates a new administrative structure, including a specific career of higher -level analyst with new positions, which will be filled through a public tender of the new agency, which is also the provisions of the regulatory agencies law.
With immediate validity, the MP that transforms ANPD into a regulatory agency will need to be approved by the National Congress within 120 days.
Digital ECA
Now sanctioned, ECA Digital becomes Federal Law 15.211/2025. THE Text requires digital platforms to take “reasonable” measures to prevent risks of children and adolescents access illegal or considered improper content For these age groups, such as exploitation and sexual abuse, physical violence, intimidation, harassment, promotion and marketing of gambling, predatory and misleading advertising practices, among other crimes.
In addition, the law provides for rules for supervision of parents and guardians and requires more reliable mechanisms for verifying the age of social networking userswhat is currently done basically by self -declaration.
The norm still disciplines the use of advertising; Collection and treatment of personal data of children and adolescents and establishes rules for electronic games, prohibits exhibition to gambling.
“After 35 years since the sanction of the original child and adolescent Statute, the world has changed a lot. Computers became popular, smartphones emerged. The internet has entered our homes and digital networks are present in the lives of millions of Brazilians. It was necessary to modernize legal and regulatory milestones with regard to the protection of children and adolescents,” said Lula.
The president argued that the law places Brazil in a select list of countries that advanced in the creation of legal devices for the protection of adolescents in the digital environment.
“From today, Brazil has the honor of joining this group of countries. Freedom of expression is an unenforceable value, but it cannot be an excuse for crimes in the digital world,” he said.
For Lula, it is undeniable the importance of digital networks, which collaborate with micro and small entrepreneurs and are an alternative work for millions of people, but cannot be above the law.
“They cannot continue to be used to spread fake news and hate speech. They cannot make room for crimes such as financial blows, sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, incentive to racism and violence against women. It is a mistake to believe that Big Techs will take the initiative to regulate themselves. This misconception has cost the lives of several children and adolescents,” he noted.
Other Ads
In addition to the sanction of the law that regulates rights of children and adolescents in the digital environment and the transformation of ANPD, the president Lula also sent a bill to the National Congress that deals with economic and competitive regulation large technology companies.
Lula also signed another provisional measure, which creates the special tax regime for Datacenter services in Brazil, the writer.
The program is part of the National Datacers Policy (PNDC), linked to Nova Brasil Indústria (NIB), and seeks to boost national growth in strategic areas of industry 4.0, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, smart factors and Internet of things, expanding the Brazilian capacity of data storage, processing and management. Financial incentives in 2026 to attract investments are R $ 5.2 billion and anticipate benefits of tax reform.
Veto
The Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic reported that Lula vetoed three points from ECA Digital. One of them TAKE FROM THE TEXT OF THE LAW The definition of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) as an entity responsible for complying with court decisions blocking platforms and applications.
This provision is included in the decree regulating the law, also signed by the president on Wednesday, and which maintains Anatel with the same assignment. The change, according to the government, was only to ensure the private competence of the Executive Power to forward the administrative structuring of its competences.
THE Another veto excludes the immediate destination to the Child and Adolescent Defense Fund of funds with fines applied based on the new law. The measure was taken, according to the Civil House, to respect the Budgetary Guidelines Law, which determines a five -year lapse for the binding of funds. Even so, informed the Civil House, the government sent this forecast in the writing MP, allocating the fines to the fund, provided that the five -year interstice determined by LDO respected.
THE Lula’s third veto It was about the so -called vacatio legis, to reduce the entry time of the new law, from one year to six months. After vetoing the device, Lula issued an MP to define the period of six months from which the law must be met by the digital platforms operating in the country.
This MP that reduces the deadline for entry into force of the new law has immediate effect, but also needs to be confirmed by the National Congress.
All three vetoes must be analyzed by congressmen who can keep them or overthrow them.
The sanction, with the description and justification of the vetoes, will be published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette (DOU). Provisional measures and decrees signed by President Lula will leave the next regular edition of DOU.
