What is the Digital ECA
The Digital ECA (Law No. 15,211/2025) establishes rules aimed at protecting children and adolescents in the digital environment and defines specific duties for platforms, applications, and online services operating in Brazil.
The regulation emerges in a context of intensified regulatory debate regarding risks associated with minors’ use of digital technologies, including the collection of personal data, targeted advertising, recommendation mechanisms, and large-scale social interaction.
The Concept of “Probable Access” in the Digital ECA
One of the central elements of the new legislation is the concept of “probable access.”
Unlike regulatory models that apply only to services explicitly directed at children or teenagers, the Digital ECA expands its scope to also cover services that, in practice, present a relevant likelihood of use by minors.
According to the law, the characterization of likely access involves the analysis of three main factors:
- the probability of use and attractiveness of the service to children andadolescents;
- the ease of access or use by this audience; and
- the significant degree of risktoprivacy, safety, or biopsychosocial development.
This criterion reflects a key feature of today’s digital environment: many services widely used by minors were not originally designed for them but are nevertheless accessed by them on a large scale.
The adoption of the likely access criterion significantly expands the scope of obligations established by the Digital ECA. In practice, this means that companies operating general-purpose digital services, such as social platforms, applications, content services, digital games, or marketplaces, may fall within the scope of the new legislation even if their products are not formally directed at children or adolescents.
This shift moves the regulatory discussion beyond the legal sphere and into structural decisions related to how digital products operate.
Among the areas potentially affected are:
- product design and featurearchitecture;
- recommendation and personalizationmechanisms;
- models for collecting and processing personaldata;
- engagement and monetization strategies; and
- internal governance and risk management structures.
In this context, the protection of minors in the digital environment ceases to be solely a compliance matter and becomes part of the core strategic considerations for technology companies.
Legal Certainty and a Risk-Based Approach
Although the law establishes general parameters, the practical application of the likely access concept will still depend on the interpretative consolidation of the new regulatory framework.
One of the main challenges will be avoiding two regulatory extremes. On the one hand, the underestimation of risks, when companies fail to recognize the attractiveness of their services to minors. On the other hand, overly broad interpretations, which could lead to the conclusion that virtually any online service would automatically be classified as having likely access.
In this context, a risk-based approach supported by demonstrable diligence is likely to prevail, considering factors such as product attractiveness, access friction, available functionalities, and risks associated with digital interaction.
