Brazil Enacts Law Raising Penalties for Online Child Sexual Abuse
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Law No. 15.487, which amends the Child and Adolescent Statute, the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Law on Heinous Crimes and the Organized Crime Law. The legislation, effective 7 May, expands investigative powers, allowing virtual patrols and police infiltration of online spaces without prior judicial authorization.
The law increases prison terms for producing, distributing, possessing or accessing sexual violence material involving children and adolescents. Minimum sentences rise from 4‑8 years to up to 10 years, with an additional one‑third to two‑thirds increase when artificial‑intelligence tools such as deepfakes, filters or fake profiles are used. It also broadens the definition of illegal content to include AI‑generated or manipulated images and videos.
Victims are guaranteed continuous psychological and psychosocial assistance through the public health system, with measures to protect their privacy during investigations. The new framework aims to strengthen Brazil’s response to digital sexual crimes against minors.
Entities: Artificial intelligence · Brazil · Brazilian Federal Police · Children and adolescents · Law No. 15.487 · Law No. 15.487 (Brazil) · Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva · President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 4 SOURCES] The law amends the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Law of Heinous Crimes and the Law on Organized Crime. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Penalties for grooming or sexual solicitation of children under 14 rise from 1‑3 years to 3‑5 years, with further increases when AI tools are used. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Penalties for acquiring, possessing or storing such material increase from 1‑4 years to 3‑6 years of imprisonment. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Penalties for producing, reproducing, directing, photographing, filming or recording sexual‑violence content involving minors increase from 4‑8 years to 4‑10 years of imprisonment, with a one‑third up (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Penalties for offering, exchanging, distributing or publishing such material rise from 3‑6 years to 4‑10 years of imprisonment. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] The legislation explicitly includes the use of artificial‑intelligence tools such as deepfakes in defining sexual‑violence offences against minors. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] The law authorises virtual patrols by security agencies to collect illegal material online without prior judicial authorisation. (new)
- [● 4 SOURCES] President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned Law No. 15.487, which increases penalties for sexual crimes against children and adolescents online. (new)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The law amends the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Law on Heinous Crimes and the Law on Organized Crime. (All articles)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Law No. 15.487 was sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and entered into force on 7 August 2023. (All articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The law authorizes virtual patrols by security agencies to collect illegal material online without prior judicial authorization. (All articles)
- [● 2 SOURCES] Imprisonment for producing, reproducing, directing, photographing, filming or recording sexual abuse material against children increases from 4‑8 years to 4‑10 years. (All articles)