Brazilian Watchdog Demands $525 Million from Meta, TikTok, Kwai Over Alleged Failures to Protect Minors Online
Brazil’s Collective Defence Institute, a consumer rights organisation, has filed two lawsuits against the Brazilian branches of TikTok, Kwai, and Meta Platforms, seeking 3 billion reais ($525 million).
The complaints accuse these businesses of failing to establish necessary safeguards to prevent young users from engaging in excessive social media use, which may affect children’s mental health.
These cases follow a number of studies forecasting potential harm to mental health from excessive, unsupervised social media usage, particularly among children and teenagers.
One of the plaintiffs, lawyer Lillian Salgado, urged platforms to change their algorithms and increase management of user accounts for children under 18.
“measures must be adopted to change how algorithms function, manage data for under-18s, and supervise teenage users, ensuring a safer experience… as in developed countries, Salgado noted.
In response, Meta maintained that the company has prioritised youth safety for more than a decade, developing over 50 methods to protect teens.
Meta also stated that Instagram’s new ‘Teen Account’ function will soon be available in Brazil, automatically limiting what teens see and managing who may contact them.
TikTok stated that information on the matter had not been obtained, while Kwai stressed that user safety, particularly for minors, is the first concern.
The lawsuits underscore a rising debate about social media regulation in Brazil, notably following a high-profile legal conflict between Elon Musk’s X platform and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice that resulted in large fines.
The consumer rights organisation is urging these sites to implement clear data protection standards and provide clearer warnings about the dangers of social media addiction for children.
We earlier reported that Meta has been fined €91 million ($101 million) for inadvertently keeping hundreds of millions of user passwords on its internal systems in plaintext rather than encrypted.
