Brazil sues Discord for $97 million over alleged failures to protect children

BRASILIA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - ⁠The Brazilian government said on Wednesday it has ⁠sued chat platform Discord, seeking 500 million reais ($97 million) through a civil collective moral damages lawsuit as it accuses the firm of failing to comply with laws protecting children and teens.

The lawsuit requests Discord to bring ⁠safety mechanisms, age-verification systems, ⁠parental supervision tools, content moderation practices and communication features into ⁠compliance, subject to a daily fine of 500,000 reais ($97,099).

The lawsuit before a federal court comes after ⁠the country's data protection authority ANPD suspended Discord's livestreaming features earlier this month over child and teens safety ⁠concerns.

In a statement, Discord said the lawsuit is disproportionate and does not accurately reflect the company's stance regarding safety and compliance with ⁠the Brazilian law.

Discord added it has presented the office of Brazil's solicitor general with a proposal to improve the safety of its operations in the ⁠country through technical adjustments and a financial investment.

The government's Solicitor General Jorge Messias told reporters that Discord did not move forward with an agreement with authorities, which would have required the platform to ⁠formally commit to bringing its operations into compliance with the law, he added.

($1 = 5.1494 reais)

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Chris Reese and Iñigo Alexander)