ECA Digital: understand the impacts and how big techs should adapt

The presidential sanction of ECA Digital (Law no. 15,211/2025) marks an urgent advance in the protection of children and adolescents in virtual environments, responding to a scenario in which early exposure to social networks and inappropriate content has generated growing concerns.

At the same time, the new legislation poses significant challenges to big techs, which will need to adapt their moderation systems and policies to meet the requirements without compromising innovation or restricting freedom of expression. The big point of attention will be to find the balance between the effective protection of minors and the operational viability of digital platforms, so that regulation does not become a barrier to technological development.

For Alexander Coelho, partner at Godke Advogados and specialist in Digital Law and Cybersecurity, there is a scenario of legal uncertainty regarding the vacancy period (up to 6 months), which allows an adaptation so that big techs can adapt to the reality of the legislation.“O shortening of vacatio, combined with the requirement of biannual reports and sophisticated technical mechanisms, can generate a dangerous side effect: the mismatch between norm and technological reality. This opens the way for judicializations, claims of technical infeasibility and a tense relationship between platforms and regulators”, he explains.

For big techs, ECA Digital is not just another Brazilian norm, but a global regulatory signal. “In a very short time, Brazil now requires measures that directly touch the business model of the platforms: age verification, parental consent, advertising limitation and combating compulsive use”, advises Coelho.

In the short term, the path is clear: companies will need to immediately map the data flows of minors in their services, adjusting standard settings so that protection is the rule, not the exception.“It will also be essential to implement more robust parental consent protocols, prepare the collection of information that will subsidize the transparency reports required by the ANPD and ensure legal representatives in Brazil able to respond to administrative and judicial authorities”, adds the lawyer.

On the other hand, Law 15.211/2025 represents a natural evolution of the Brazilian regulatory framework for the digital environment Tiago Camargo, partner in the Privacy and Data Protection area at IW Melcheds Advogados, the new law creates a harmonious bridge between the Marco Civil da Internet and the LGPD, expressly incorporating the fundamental concepts of the Marco Civil (art. 2, §1) and establishing specific protections through configurations “privacy by design”. “We are faced with a standard that does not fragment the legal system, but complements it, creating a cohesive regulatory ecosystem”, he evaluates.

The designation of the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) as an autonomous administrative authority for the protection of children and adolescents in digital environments, according to decree 12,622/25, takes advantage of the already consolidated expertise of the agency in data protection. “The choice of ANPD is agreed because it avoids regulatory fragmentation and takes advantage of the already existing technical knowledge on the processing of personal data”, Camargo points out.

“o Brazil is positioned at the forefront of the global digital protection of minors, creating an integrated regulatory system that harmonizes Marco Civil, LGPD and the new specific protections, establishing a model that can serve as a reference for other countries in the regulation of child and youth protection in the digital environment”, he concludes.