The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) restricted the activities of Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) in regulating ECA Digital (digital platform for children and adolescents) and opened a dispute in the telecommunications sector. Behind this controversy lies a confrontation over who will oversee major technologies and the use of artificial intelligence in Brazil.
By approving the law – which sets new responsibilities for digital platforms (such as social networks and games) and creates tools to protect children and adolescents on the Internet – Lula objected to Anatil’s participation in enforcing the law.
Then, by decree, it appointed the ANPD (National Agency for Data Protection) as the administrative authority for the protection of children and adolescents in the digital environment.
Businessmen and experts in regulating the sector are demanding changes and claim that the government’s decision is a regulatory “turtle” that will cause losses in the supervision of major technology companies.
“It’s a blow to Anatel,” says businesswoman Vivian Surwajee, president of Feninfra, an entity that represents more than 137,000 infrastructure companies and telecom providers. “There is a childish fear of doing the obvious: giving Anatel its natural role in regulating this new digital world.”
For its part, Lula’s government chose the worst path, instead of strengthening Anatil, an already existing regulatory body with more than 1,300 government employees, a nationwide structure and international support. “Starting everything from scratch will generate more costs for the state,” he says. “Anatel has high quality servers and its consultants handle everything with high technical knowledge.”
The statute was approved in September, following complaints made by YouTuber Felca about unjustified monetization and exploitation of children on online platforms.
Under the law, Congress gave Anatel the lead role in ordering the ban on violating companies. But Lula objected to this ruling, claiming that it was unconstitutional, because the organization of the federal public administration was the exclusive responsibility of the President of the Republic.
The topic is sensitive because the Justice Department-linked ANPD could be the agency that would oversee AI and fake news issues, if the projects being addressed actually move forward. In negotiations with Donald Trump’s government over the 50% tariff, Lula’s government also put regulation of big tech companies on the table, including content moderation.
The government sent a representative (temporary measure) to Congress to turn the ANPD into a regulatory agency. MP is building a career as a specialist in data protection regulation and changing legislation to strengthen personal data protection in Brazil, including implementing ECA Digital to protect children and adolescents online.
Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE), Parliament’s rapporteur and author of the ECA Digital Law, says he sees no risk in choosing ANPD. “It will be able to make structural adjustments so that it has the capacity to do the work,” the senator says. “Anatel already has other points of focus, and this may have been the point that motivated this definition.”
Vieira expects that he does not intend to include in the MP’s opinion the attribution of ANPD regarding the monitoring of the use of artificial intelligence. “We don’t want to invent anything,” he says. “Now, if we eventually understand that it has to be the National Development and Reform Agency, it will have to go through a new reformulation so that it has enough of the organized sector to cover this.”
Ricardo Campos, a specialist in regulating digital services, a professor at the University of Frankfurt in Germany, sees it as a setback. “Brazil is moving towards something that has never been seen before in the world, which is giving the Data Protection Agency the regulatory jurisdiction to regulate big technology companies. It is a Brazilian jabuticaba,” says Campos, who helped Senator Vieira prepare the digital ECA project.
“Do you know what regulatory bodies have been chosen to implement European law? Anatel in Germany, Anatel in Portugal, etc. in all other countries,” he highlights. “Brazil will be the only country in the world that will not be able to dialogue, and regulating big technology companies represents a global challenge for coordination,” he stressed. For him, the decision is made on a case-by-case basis, which will have negative consequences for this global coordination between agencies.
“There were no restrictions on Anatel’s operations,” said the Presidency’s SECCOM (Secretariat of Communications). According to Palacio do Planalto, the MP is creating 200 positions specialized in data protection regulation and 18 positions in committees and positions of trust, by converting 797 vacant permanent positions, without increasing expenses.
When contacted, Anatel stated that she respects the presidential decision and understands that the veto arises from a legal interpretation related to the initiative’s defects. But he considered that, given that the agency was established only five years ago and recently transformed into a regulatory body, it is natural that there would be concerns about the regulatory and operational challenges arising from the new responsibilities assigned to it. Anatel is 28 years old.
He says: “All mediation in the digital sector is structurally dependent on communications networks, whether in accessing platforms, in data circulation, or in providing services, the responsibility for regulating which falls on Anatel.”
The Brazilian Chamber of the Digital Economy (camara-e.net), an association representing the main platforms and digital service providers operating in Brazil, such as Meta, TikTok, Google, Amazon and Mercado Pago, states that the definition of the competent authority falls within the scope of institutional and political decisions legitimately taken by the authorities.
“Regardless of the chosen configuration, it will be necessary to ensure that the appointed authority has the necessary technical, operational and administrative conditions to maintain a technical and balanced dialogue with all agents involved in the implementation of public policy.”
The Ministry of Communications stated, in a statement, that it supports strengthening Anatel’s role in regulating cybersecurity, which is currently underway.
The Ministry of Justice emphasizes that the National Data Defense Agency already has consolidated experience and that the model follows the international trend, where data protection authorities are also responsible for complex cases involving rights in digital environments. ANPD did not respond to the request for information.
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