Based on General Comment No. 25/2021, of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CONANDA), a collegiate body linked to the Ministry of Human Rights, issued Resolution 245/2024, through which it establishes guidelines to be observed by companies providing digital products and services accessible to children and adolescents.
The Resolution defines guidelines to ensure the rights of children and adolescents in the “digital environment”, which includes information and communication technologies (ICTs), networks, content, services and digital applications available in the virtual environment (internet), artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, automated systems, biometrics, algorithmic systems and data analysis.
The central point of the Resolution concerns the protection of the rights of children and adolescents provided for in the legislation, through:
– Respect for freedom of expression and access to information;
– Broad access to secure, reliable and complete information;
– Protection against possible negligence, discrimination, cruelty, oppression or exploitation, by combating digital exclusion, inferiority and illegal or abusive discrimination, whether direct or indirect.
The Resolution Text considers as violations of the rights of children and adolescents the enabling of access and exposure to content considered harmful, such as sexual, aggressive (cyber aggression and cyberbullying), harassment, as well as other content that implies or encourages the dissemination of activities that stimulate or put life or physical integrity at risk, or may cause addiction (e.g. gambling).
Adapting applications, platforms, and other players in this market segment will require considerable attention, as the personal data of children and adolescents cannot be used for commercial purposes, not even for defining behavioral profiles, consumption, market segmentation, or advertising targeting.
