BRASÍLIA: A Brazilian judge on Sept 30 ordered the messaging platform Discord to do more to protect underage users after detecting shortfalls that allegedly led to the suicide of a 13-year-old girl.
The South American nation is one of the most active online regulators on the planet and last month sued Discord for nearly US$100mil (RM408mil) after the teenager's death in July.
The Sept 30 ruling ordered the platform to strengthen its parental control and age verification mechanisms, among other measures.
Failure to comply with these "emergency" provisions will result in a daily fine of around US$20,000 (RM81,606), the ruling said.
The court in Brasilia has not yet ruled on the lawsuit filed by the government over Discord's alleged failure to protect children from harmful content.
During a 45-minute livestream, other teenage users allegedly encouraged a young girl to kill an animal, and when she failed to do so, goaded her into killing herself.
Brazil's National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) ordered Discord to suspend livestreams following the suicide in a small town in the centre-west of the country.
That same month, the platform introduced a plan to improve its safety features, but the measures were deemed insufficient by Brazilian authorities.
The US-based company with over 90 million active daily users worldwide did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the latest ruling.
Brazil this year made it compulsory for platforms to link under-16 accounts to those of their parents and to verify users' ages. – AFP
Those suffering from problems can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service at 03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392; Talian Kasih at 15999 or 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp; Jakim’s (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) family, social and community care centre at 0111-959 8214 on WhatsApp; and Befrienders Kuala Lumpur at 03-7627 2929 or go to befrienders.org.my/centre-in-malaysia for a full list of numbers nationwide and operating hours, or email sam@befrienders.org.my.
