The Brazilian National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of digital platforms according to new legislation approved in Brazil. Throughout this year, EFF has presented comments, filed submissions, and met with the agency to emphasize crucial guardrails that the enforcement of new regulations should ensure.
ANPD is responsible for detailing and applying obligations set in Law n. 15.211/2025, which established rules for the protection of children and adolescents in the digital space. While some provisions establish important privacy safeguards, like prohibiting advertising based on profiling of underage users, the law created mandatory age assurance mechanisms for accessing digital products and services.
We have
raised alarms
on the privacy and free expression issues around age-gating the internet.
Age verification technology is often
inaccurate
and
privacy-invasive
.
Examples also show
how it’s prone to enforcement overreach, resulting in sites blocked beyond legal requirements. In the UK, providers disproportionately restricted
several
counseling, support and mental health sites under the Online Safety Act. Current age assurance methods risk wrongly walling off adults with
no valid IDs
,
facial differences
,
physical disabilities
, among others.
We highlighted these concerns in our
comments
and
submissions
underscoring that ANPD should avoid a blanket approach to age assurance obligations. Following the legislation, restrictions should apply only to products and services that are inadequate or prohibited to children and adolescents according to categories already set in regulation, with robust protections against subjective and overbroad interpretations. Guarantees such as access to information, freedom to participate in society and meaningful access to technologies also compound what constitutes the best interests of the child.
Moreover, we stressed that zero knowledge proofs alone fail to ensur
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