Immediate removal of child pornography from the internet advances in the Senate

The Senate Human Rights Committee approved a bill on Wednesday 3 that requires websites and apps to immediately remove pornographic content involving children or adolescents. The next step is the analysis by the Constitution and Justice Committee.

The proposal, authored by Marcos do Val (Podemos-ES) and reported by Zequinha Marinho (Podemos-PA), also covers fake or digitally modified photos — for example, images of children produced with artificial intelligence.

"Providers have a duty of care, the failure to observe which constitutes a systemic failure," the rapporteur argued. "[The measure] affirms a moral, constitutional, and legal imperative: to protect children and adolescents from irreparable abuse, which is multiplying exponentially in the digital environment."

The National Congress already approved a similar project on August 27. PL 2.628/2022, which creates the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents, was sent for sanction .

Rules

According to the Senate bill, websites must adopt mechanisms to identify and prevent pornography involving children and adolescents. Therefore, sharing messages and links to content must be identified.

After removing content, companies must immediately report the matter to the appropriate authorities—the police or the Public Prosecutor's Office, for example. Otherwise, those responsible for the websites will face civil, administrative, and criminal penalties.

Whenever possible, the user responsible for the publication must be informed by the website about the removal and have the right to contest the measure.

(With information from the Senate Agency)