Federal Law 14,811/2024, which came into force in Brazil last month, provides for the new crime of cyberbullying (until then the conduct was not considered a crime in Brazil) and worsened the consequences for other crimes carried out in a virtual environment, such as inducing suicide and child pornography.
The new law reinforces the role of the Public Power in regulating the virtual environment, especially for the protection of minors on social networks and online games.
The law defines cyberbullying as the practice of systematic intimidation, promoted in any digital environment. Furthermore, it predicts that other crimes – committed through Internet, social network or transmitted in real time – as being heinous (that is, it requires the initial sentence in a closed regime and prevents the possibility of bail or other legal benefits). Additionally, it provides for an increase in the penalty if the author is a leader, coordinator, administrator or person responsible for a virtual network group/community.
It is important that application providers and companies responsible for virtual environments reinforce the rules of coexistence (terms of use) and cooperate with authorities in identifying violating users. Brazilian law and case law have demonstrated a tendency to strengthen the protection of the virtual environment (whether from a criminal, brand protection or disinformation standpoints) and toughen the application of sanctions to those who do not demonstrate a collaborative stance.
However, there are other laws that must be observed in relation to the virtual environment in Brazil, especially the Internet Civil Act and the General Personal Data Protection Law, so one must be aware of the factual and legal context involved, in order to avoid liability. Depending on the conduct carried out online, the removal of content and/or provision of data to identify the user may be subject to a court order, under penalty of violating privacy and freedom of expression.
