Discord suspended livestreaming across Brazil on Monday, complying with an order from the country’s data protection authority after a 13-year old girl died during a livestream that was viewed by other minors. The company said it is in talks with regulators to restore the feature.
For the millions of players who use Discord as their go to platform for work, play or socialising, the suspension is only part of the story. More importantly, Discord admitted about its own shortcomings in its moderation practices in a report submitted to Brazil’s Ministry of Justice, which was subsequently “leaked” to the press.
What Discord Leaked Report Revealed About Its Detection System
Discord runs an automated intervention system that scores content on its platform on a “danger scale.” A case is escalated as dangerous from 0.95 upward. However, the stream in question scored 0.12.
The company said the organisers used names and phrasing that masked what the stream actually was, which kept the score low enough to avoid triggering a response. Discord took two hours to remove it.
In the same leaked document, Discord acknowledged the failure of its safety systems in this case. It also noted that lowering the detection threshold in their systems would increase false positives, all the while saying it is reassessing where the line should be placed.
While this is crucial to the problem, this isn’t limited to Discord alone. Every platform running an automated moderation system at a scale has a threshold at a certain level. If it is set too high, offenders will learn to stay undetected underneath it. And on the other hand, if it’s set too low, legitimate servers will be hit with takedowns and suspensions which were never a risk. Users who have had a gaming server flagged for a clip of in-game violence know which side of that trade-off platforms have historically chosen.
Publicly however, Discord has been less appeasing than its report to the ministry. The company told the press that the agency’s characterisation “does not reflect the platform we have built or the investments we have made in user safety.”
Why Brazil’s Regulator Moved Specifically on Livestreams
Brazil’s National Data Protection Agency ordered the suspension last Wednesday, giving Discord three business days to comply. The agency said livestreams have been repeatedly used to facilitate violence, harassment and the incitement of self-harm and suicide. It cited what it called robust evidence that Discord had not sufficiently prevented exposure to such content.
The investigation concerns alleged non-compliance with the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents, known as ECA Digital, and this is the law’s first real enforcement test. A total of five teenagers were arrested in connection with the death, according to an August 4 statement from Brazil’s justice ministry.
Complaints involving Discord in Brazil rose 54% between January and July as compared to the same period last year, according to Safernet Brazil, a nonprofit working on human rights online. The organization’s President Thiago Tavares, said in an August 11 statement that the case was not an isolated episode but the outcome of a pattern the organisation had documented for years.
However, not everyone backs the approach. Thiago Ayub, director of technology at network engineering firm Safe Networks, criticized the agency’s decision against Discord.
What This Means For Discord Users Elsewhere
Discord now has two days to submit a compliance plan. What it offers, and how the regulators respond will set the terms for how ECA Digital gets enforced against every other platform operating in Brazil.
Even so, the wider context is important for users outside the country as well. Both Brazil’s government and Supreme Court have been pushing to regulate minors’ internet use, and Australia, Canada and Indonesia are working on similar measures. A regulator ordering a specific feature to be switched off, rather than blocking a platform outright, is a template other jurisdictions can copy.
For Discord, livestreaming is not its main feature. At the same time, screen sharing and Go Live are how a large share of its communities actually play together. If the compliance plan involves age verification or tighter automated thresholds, those changes will not stay inside Brazil’s borders for long. Recently, Twitch added family centred parental controls for its teen users, of which you can read our coverage here.
If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. In India, you can reach Tele-MANAS at 14416. Elsewhere, the International Association for Suicide Prevention lists crisis centres at iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres.
