The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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BRASÍLIA, Brazil — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday signed a decree setting out how Brazil will move forward with new rules requiring adult websites to verify the ages of users accessing content from within the country.
The decree follows the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA), which took effect Tuesday. The law is aimed at strengthening protections for minors online and requires adult content providers to implement age verification measures that go beyond simple self-declaration, regardless of where those platforms operate.
The scope extends beyond traditional websites. Marketplaces and delivery applications offering adult or erotic products and services must also verify the age of customers and block minors from accessing those products.
Enforcement authority rests with the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), which was recently elevated to the status of a regulatory agency and contributed to drafting the decree.
The ANPD has also released a question-and-answer document outlining how the law is expected to function in practice. According to that guidance, platforms must verify a user’s age before granting access to adult material. If explicit content is visible prior to verification, it must be hidden or blurred by default. The rules also require platforms to prevent minors from creating or maintaining accounts.
Penalties for noncompliance begin with a warning and a 30-day window to correct violations. After that, regulators may impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s revenue in Brazil or up to 1,000 Brazilian reais (approximately $195) per registered user, capped at a total of 50 million reais (approximately $9.73 million).
The ANPD has not yet issued a formal compliance timeline or detailed technical standards for age verification systems. The agency indicated in its guidance that additional rules and best-practice recommendations will be released at a later stage.
Industry response has already begun to take shape. The Brazilian Association of Adult Entertainment Industry Professionals (ABIPEA), launched in September, has offered to provide technical and institutional guidance to companies operating both inside and outside Brazil as they adapt to the new framework.
ABIPEA is also preparing to host a dedicated space at the Intimi Expo trade show, scheduled for March 20–22 in São Paulo, focused on “educating and guiding the adult industry regarding the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents, its practical implications and compliance strategies.”
For now, the framework is in place. What comes next will depend on how it’s applied — and how the industry adjusts once the rules move from paper into practice.
