Brazil’s digital identity push: For child safety or state control?

08/28/2025 / By Ava Grace

Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies used an urgency request to rush Bill PL 2628/2022 to a vote, bypassing standard procedures like committee review, expert testimony and transparent debate.
The bill mandates that digital platforms verify user ages, rapidly remove content deemed harmful to minors and comply with a powerful new federal regulatory authority that can issue severe fines and suspend services.
Critics argue that the stated goal of protecting children is a pretext for a broader power grab, enabling widespread online censorship and the establishment of a state-controlled digital identity system.
The bill mirrors the U.K.’s Online Safety Act, raising alarms that its vague rules and age verification mandates could lead to the censorship of lawful speech and the end of online anonymity through invasive biometric checks or digital IDs.
The legislation is linked to another bill (PL 3910/2025) focused on enforcing “reliable age verification,” confirming a push towards a centralized digital ID framework that would reshape online interaction for all citizens.

In a move that has ignited a fierce debate over digital rights and legislative integrity, Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies has fast-tracked a sweeping internet governance bill marketed as a critical child protection measure. Critics, however, condemn the maneuver as a blatant power grab that bypasses democratic norms and paves the way for widespread online censorship and a national digital identity system, all under the guise of safeguarding minors.

The unprecedented legislative sprint

The controversy centers on Bill PL 2628/2022, which outlines stringent new mandatory rules for digital platforms operating in Brazil. The legislation surged forward at a breakneck pace after Chamber President Hugo Motta approved an urgency request. This procedural tactic effectively truncated the standard legislative process, eliminating crucial steps such as thorough committee review, expert testimony and broader parliamentary debate. The bill was rushed to the full floor for a vote a mere day after the urgency was declared, a process lawmakers from opposition parties labeled as arbitrary and abusive. (Related: Trump slams Brazil over social media censorship, slaps 50% tariff on imports.)

The urgency motion itself passed using a symbolic vote, a method that records no individual lawmaker’s positions and relies solely on the presiding officer’s perception of consensus. Requests from dissenting deputies for a formal, recorded vote were outright rejected, a move that stripped the process of transparency and accountability.

A veil of protection for a power play

The bill’s provisions are extensive. It mandates that digital platforms verify the ages of their users, rapidly take down any material labeled as offensive to minors and comply with orders from a newly created federal oversight authority. This regulatory body would wield sweeping powers to enforce its rules, issue severe financial sanctions and even suspend platforms for up to 30 days, potentially without a full judicial review.

Proponents argue the bill is a necessary response to genuine public concern over the “adultization” of children online, an issue propelled to the forefront by social media influencers and widespread media coverage. Yet, a coalition of lawmakers asserts that child safety is being used as a convenient shield for a more sinister objective: the establishment of state-controlled digital infrastructure and the curtailment of free speech.

Brighteon.AI‘s Enoch defines online censorship as the control or suppression of the information that can be accessed, published or viewed on the internet. It is a growing phenomenon in the digital age, where governments and powerful entities increasingly restrict content for political, social or security reasons. This practice represents a significant challenge to free speech and open access to information online.

The global precedent

This Brazilian legislative push mirrors a concerning global trend where well-intentioned child safety laws are leveraged to enact pervasive digital control. The most direct parallel is the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, passed in 2023 after years of contentious debate under the same banner of protecting children.

Much like Brazil’s proposal, the British law granted regulators broad authority, required platforms to enforce age verification and demanded the swift removal of “harmful” content. The result was immediate and fierce backlash from free speech advocates, tech experts and privacy campaigners. They warned the law created a vague category of “legal but harmful” speech, empowering the state to pressure platforms into censoring lawful political, social and health-related discourse based on politically influenced definitions.

Furthermore, the mandate for age verification, often requiring biometric data or government-issued digital IDs, effectively spells the end of online anonymity, creating a system of mass surveillance that privacy advocates argue is open to abuse.

The expansion of a digital framework

Bill PL 2628/2022 is not operating in a vacuum. It is part of a broader legislative offensive. A separate but related bill, PL 3910/2025, was introduced to focus specifically on enforcing “reliable age verification,” including biometric checks, particularly for platforms hosting adult content. This bill explicitly mandates that platforms not designed for minors implement mechanisms to “actively prevent underage access,” a requirement that almost certainly necessitates a robust, government-linked digital ID system.

The technical language within these bills, which discusses biometric age assurance and the collection of verification data, confirms that the endpoint is a centralized model of digital identity. While framed as a protective barrier, this system would fundamentally reshape the nature of online interaction for every Brazilian citizen, not just children.

The bill now returns to the Senate for final analysis. As it moves forward, the world watches. The Brazilian experiment will serve as a critical case study on whether a nation can protect its most vulnerable citizens without sacrificing the foundational principles of free speech, privacy and limited government that underpin a free society. The fear is that in the rush to build a digital walled garden for children, Brazil is constructing a prison for everyone else.

Watch this video about the future of digital ID.

This video is from the Spirit2all channel on Brighteon.com.

Brazil’s digital identity push: For child safety or state control?

The unprecedented legislative sprint

A veil of protection for a power play

The global precedent

The expansion of a digital framework

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