Brazil Strikes to Ban Discord After Foiled Assault at Girl Gaga Live performance

Brazil may pull the plug on well-liked chat app Discord after a failed terrorist assault at Girl Gaga’s mega-concert revealed the platform was used to plan violence in opposition to LGBTQ+ attendees.

Brazilian Deputy Guilherme Boulos formally requested Discord’s suspension final week, simply days after police foiled a plot to assault Girl Gaga’s Could 3 present at Copacabana Seaside—a large occasion that drew over 2.1 million folks. Authorities performed their “Pretend Monster” operation throughout 4 states, executing 15 search warrants focusing on 9 individuals who allegedly deliberate to make use of improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails on the live performance.

“ENOUGH! We received’t sit idly by ready for tragedies to occur,” Boulos wrote on X. “I’ve filed a request to droop Discord in Brazil till it complies with our nation’s legal guidelines.”

The would-be attackers focused youngsters, youngsters, and members of the LGBTQ+ group, in response to police studies. Girl Gaga herself solely realized in regards to the menace after her efficiency when media studies surfaced.

Boulos’s request to the Ministério Público Federal (the nation’s Federal Prosecution Physique) argued that Discord lacks correct authorized illustration in Brazil, making it practically unattainable for authorities to implement content material moderation guidelines. He described the platform as a “breeding floor for hate acts by right-wing extremists.”

“Discord has turn into a fertile subject for organizing legal actions,” Boulos mentioned. He pointed to different incidents past the live performance plot, together with the stay streaming of a homeless particular person’s homicide, digital rape, and animal cruelty content material.

Discord rapidly responded by canceling the focused accounts, and mentioned it maintains authorized illustration in Brazil by way of Licks Attorneys, which has workplaces in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The authorized agency hasn’t responded to a request for remark by Decrypt.

Deputy Reimont from the official Employees’ Occasion joined the push in opposition to Discord, sending his personal request to the Procuradoria-Geral da República calling for measures in opposition to each Discord and 4chan to curb legal content material.

Brazil’s historical past of banning social media platforms

This is not Brazil’s first rodeo with social media bans. Simply final yr, the nation briefly kicked X off its digital turf in a high-profile showdown with Elon Musk.

X went darkish throughout Brazil from August 30 to October 8, 2024, after Supreme Courtroom Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered its suspension. The ban got here after X refused to nominate a authorized consultant and didn’t adjust to courtroom orders to take away accounts spreading disinformation—comparable to what’s taking place right this moment with Discord, in response to the legislators’ claims.

An estimated 20 to 40 million Brazilian customers misplaced entry till X lastly paid its fines and met the courtroom’s calls for. The nation is the seventh-largest on the planet, by inhabitants.

The X ban was an enormous contributor to Bluesky’s rise to fame, with over one million customers signing as much as the platform in three days.

Telegram has confronted the ban hammer twice lately. In March 2022, the Brazilian Supreme Courtroom blocked the messaging app for failing to take away accounts linked to disinformation, notably these supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro forward of elections. The ban was enforced for days till Telegram appointed a authorized consultant and took steps to conform.

The app received blocked once more in April 2023 when a federal decide ordered Telegram’s suspension for refusing handy over person information tied to neo-Nazi discussion groups concerned in class violence investigations. That ban was additionally short-lived, and was lifted after Telegram made concessions within the face of every day fines.



Each X and Telegram at present function in Brazil, having navigated their method again into the nation’s good graces—at the very least for now.

No ban has been applied on Discord as of but. Brazilian crypto customers and players, who closely depend on Discord for group engagement, are already discussing options and the legitimacy of those actions.