Amid the various transformations experienced in the digital landscape, over the past month the article series “Digital Law in Brazil - Current Hot Topics”, written by different professionals from the firm Montaury Pimenta, Machado & Vieira de Mello, has sought to map the issues that have most mobilized legislators, courts, regulators, and legal practitioners in the field of Digital Law.
A more complex and strategic patent litigation landscape. Patent litigation in Brazil has undergone significant transformation over recent years, particularly in disputes involving Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). What was once a jurisdiction perceived as slow and procedurally rigid has become an increasingly strategic forum for SEP enforcement. This shift has been driven by procedural flexibility under the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure, growing judicial familiarity with complex technology disputes, and the active role of specialised business courts.
Under the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), the Privacy Policy plays a central role in operationalizing the principles of transparency, purpose limitation, and accountability established in Article 6 of the law. Far from being a mere formality or a copy-and-paste document, as many organizations still rely on, the Privacy Policy is one of the primary instruments through which controllers demonstrate compliance to both data subjects and regulators..
The year 2025 marked a paradigm shift in Brazil’s data protection landscape, as the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) was elevated to the status of a regulatory agency, acquiring expanded powers of enforcement, rulemaking, and sanctioning.
The use of facial biometrics has become one of the most widespread technologies driving digital transformation in recent years. From authentication systems on mobile devices to access control in companies and residences, biometric identification has become common practice in various settings. This accelerated growth, however, brings significant legal challenges, especially regarding the protection of personal data under the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (“LGPD”) - Law No. 13.709/2018.
Law No. 15,211/2025, known as the Digital ECA, represents an unprecedented regulatory milestone in Latin America by establishing a specific legal framework for the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment. Acknowledging that young people are immersed in online platforms from early childhood, the legislation seeks to update the Child and the Adolescent Statute to reflect a reality in which risks such as exposure to harmful content, abusive data collection, persuasive advertising, emotional manipulation, and digital dependency have become part of everyday life.
In judging SPECIAL APPEAL No. 2096417 - SP (2023/0328252-0), the rapporteur, Minister Nancy Andrighi, stated that:
In a landmark decision, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) declared the partial unconstitutionality of Article 19 of the Marco Civil da Internet, reshaping the country’s approach to online platform liability. The ruling introduces a layered model of diligence and responsibility that aligns Brazil with evolving global standards such as the EU’s Digital Services Act and other emerging regimes of digital accountability.
At present, Bill No. 2,338 of 2023 is under consideration before the Brazilian National Congress, proposing a framework for the development, promotion, and ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), grounded in the principle of human-centricity. The bill seeks to reconcile incentives for technological innovation with the protection of fundamental rights and the guarantees afforded to data subjects, by establishing parameters aimed at legal certainty and the prevention of abusive practices involving AI. Inspired by the European Union’s regulatory model, the proposal adopts a risk-based approach, classifying AI systems according to the potential impact of their applications on human life and the degree of threat posed to fundamental rights, distinguishing between artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence.
Brazil’s new Law No. 15,211/2025, establishing the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (ECA Digital), is a groundbreaking framework for protecting minors in digital environments, including platforms, social networks, apps, and electronic games.