Brazil has now stricter regulations to combat crimes of sexual violence against children and adolescents, including in digital environments and through the use of artificial intelligence.

A new law takes effect this Friday (Aug. 7), amending Brazil’s Statute of the Child and Adolescent – known as ECA – as well as a number of related criminal codes and acts, in order to impose harsher criminal penalties on the perpetrators of these offenses.

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Among the key changes, the legislation expands the scope for investigating sex crimes committed online. It authorizes law enforcement agencies to conduct online patrols to identify and collect files made available in public digital environments.

This activity does not require prior judicial authorization. The law also strengthens the role of undercover police officers online in investigating crimes.

Artificial intelligence

The new law explicitly addresses the use of AI in crimes related to child sexual violence. It increases penalties for perpetrators who use tools such as deepfakes, filters, or other means capable of altering images and voices to impersonate children or adolescents and groom victims.

In addition, there will be increased penalties for criminals who employ digital anonymization mechanisms – such as concealing or falsifying IP addresses and other identifiers – with the aim of hindering identification by authorities.

Regarding illegal material, the law broadens the definition of content depicting sexual violence against children and adolescents to include real or fictional depictions produced, manipulated, or generated by AI when they have sexual connotations.

Care for victims

The new law guarantees children and adolescents who are victims or witnesses of sexual violence the right to specialized, ongoing, and comprehensive psychological and psychosocial care. This support must take into account the emotional impacts resulting from the constant circulation of images and videos on the internet, including on international platforms.

The law also stipulates that victims must be provided care at health facilities within the country’s national health care system, the SUS, in an environment that ensures privacy and protection against access by unauthorized persons – especially the perpetrator.

In addition, the perpetrator will be required to fully reimburse the costs of the victim’s treatment, including services provided by the SUS.

Heinous crimes and preventive detention

The law also expands the list of crimes considered heinous, including various acts related to the production, dissemination, possession, and solicitation involving sexual violence against children and adolescents.

It also includes the possibility of preventive detention for crimes against sexual dignity committed against minors and for offenses under the ECA related to the sexual exploitation of children.

Furthermore, the legislation also imposes harsher penalties on members of criminal organizations involved in crimes against children and adolescents and strengthens measures for the forfeiture of assets and proceeds obtained through criminal activity.

The Mercosur–Singapore agreement takes effect next Saturday (Aug. 1) and should gradually reduce or eliminate tariffs between Singapore and the South American bloc.

The agreement guarantees zero tariffs on all Brazilian exports to Singapore. The agreement also establishes common criteria for trade operations.

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In addition to reducing tariffs, the pact expands access to the services market, encourages investment, and includes a specific chapter on e-commerce – the first negotiated by Mercosur with a partner outside the region.

The agreement with Singapore has been in effect in Uruguay since March and in Paraguay since February.

In 2025, trade between Brazil and Singapore reached USD 10.7 billion. Brazilian exports totaled USD 7.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of USD 4.1 billion. Among the main products exported are fuel oils, machinery, and beef, pork, and poultry.

The Brazilian government has made manuals available to provide guidance to exporters, importers, and foreign trade operators. They can be found on the Siscomex Portal.

Included are the rules for applying tariff preferences, the criteria for determining the origin of goods, and the procedures required to conduct foreign trade operations.

The accord was signed in 2022, and the Brazilian government’s expectation at the time was to increase the GDP by BRL 28.1 billion by 2041.

Negotiated since 2018, the agreement with Singapore is likely to boost Mercosur’s exports to the Asian country by USD 500 million per year.

The White House announced a one-year extension of the US national emergency regarding Brazil. The decision keeps in effect the executive order signed by the US president on July 30, 2025, declaring that the Brazilian government’s policies and actions pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to US national security, foreign policy, and the economy.

The statement was released on Tuesday (Jul. 28) and will be published on Wednesday (29) in the Federal Register, the official gazette of the US government. It will also be forwarded to the US Congress. With this renewal, the national emergency will remain in effect until at least July 30, 2027.

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In its justification, the US government states that the conditions that gave rise to Executive Order 14323 continue to exist. According to the text, members of the Brazilian government are adopting policies and practices that interfere with the US economy, violate human rights, restrict the freedom of expression of US citizens, and undermine the country’s interests in protecting its citizens and businesses.

The document also cites actions by Brazil’s Supreme Court. According to the White House, the Court’s decisions ordering the removal of online content and the arrest of individuals for protesting are examples of “censorship” and continue to pose a threat to US interests.

The US government also reiterated that a former Brazilian president, his family, and his supporters are being subjected to political persecution, which, according to the White House, undermines the rule of law and contributes to human rights violations in Brazil.

US offensive

The US renewal of the national emergency comes after a year of escalating tensions between the US and Brazilian governments. Since the executive order was issued in July 2025, the Trump administration has adopted a series of measures against Brazil, including launching trade investigations, imposing tariffs on Brazilian products, and criticizing Supreme Court decisions on content moderation by digital platforms and cases involving former President Jair Bolsonaro.

In response, the Brazilian government has intensified diplomatic negotiations with US officials and challenged the measures at the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that the tariffs violate international trade rules. Members of the Brazilian executive branch have also reiterated that the judiciary acts independently, while the Supreme Court maintains that its decisions comply with the Constitution and national legislation. Despite the negotiations and Brazilian official statements, the Trump administration has maintained and expanded the measures over the past year.

On Monday (Jul. 27), the Brazilian government filed a request for consultations with the United States through the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement system, challenging two tariff measures adopted under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil considers the tariffs to be unjustified and inconsistent with the obligations assumed by the United States under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994 (GATT 1994) and the rules governing the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism.

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One of the contested measures stems from a Section 301 investigation into Brazil and imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Brazilian products. The investigation examined issues such as digital trade and electronic payment services, preferential tariffs, the enforcement of anti-corruption legislation, intellectual property protection, access to the ethanol market, and efforts to combat illegal deforestation.

The second measure resulted from an investigation involving 60 economies and imposed an additional 12.5 percent tariff on Brazilian products. In this case, the investigation focused on the existence and enforcement of restrictions on the importation of goods produced, in whole or in part, with forced labor.

The request for consultations represents the first formal stage of the WTO dispute settlement process. At this stage, the parties seek to negotiate a solution to the dispute before a panel is established to review the case.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the initiative seeks to challenge the consistency of the US tariff measures with multilateral trade rules.

Tariff hike

The new tariffs announced by the United States will affect Brazilian products worth USD 6.6 billion exported to the US market, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services.

The ministry estimates that the cumulative 37.5 percent surcharge will affect 16.5 percent of Brazilian exports to the US.

The affected products include machinery and equipment, various types of wood, fats and oils, footwear, furniture, and apparel.

The Brazilian women’s volleyball team’s dream of winning its first Nations League title will have to wait. On Sunday (Jul. 26) in Macau, China, Brazil lost to Türkiye 3–1 (25–23, 23–25, 24–26, 21–25) after surrendering the opening set, settling for its fifth runner-up finish in the competition. The final was a rematch of the bronze-medal match at the Paris Olympics, where Brazil had defeated Türkiye.

This time, however, Türkiye came out on top, powered by the outstanding performance of opposite hitter Melissa Vargas. The Cuban-born, naturalized Turkish player scored 33 points on attacks to lead her team to its second Nations League title - its first came in 2023 - and to top it off, she won the tournament’s MVP award.

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Italy won the Nations League bronze medal after beating China 3–1 (25–16, 23–25, 25–22, 25–13). The Italians had been eliminated by Brazil on Saturday (26).

For Brazil, Ana Cristina (25 points) and Rosamaria (19) led the team’s scoring effort.

With today’s defeat, the Brazilians have now secured five silver medals in the tournament - the previous ones came in 2025, 2022, 2021, and 2019.

“There’s that feeling that we could have given just a little more - it’s normal. Considering the adversities we faced, there was fight, determination, and tremendous commitment. Some players are emerging, we lost some key players along the way, and now we have to look ahead to the future, to the South American Championship,” said coach José Roberto in an interview with the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV).

In this tournament, the national team took the court without key starters such as outside hitter Gabi (rested due to lower back discomfort), opposite hitter Tainara, and middle blocker Julia Kudiess - both of whom were sidelined by injuries - as well as libero Nyeme, who is on maternity leave.

Brazil’s next competition will be the South American Championship, held from September 8–13 at Maracanãzinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro. The winning team will earn a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can already be found in 59 percent of Brazilian federal and state agencies, as per data from an official report on 2025 released Thursday (Jul. 23).

The Judiciary leads in the adoption of the technology, reaching 94 percent of agencies in 2025, followed by the Prosecution Service (92%), the Legislative (83%), and the Executive (55%).

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According to the study, among the different levels of government, the use of AI is more widespread in federal agencies (70%) than in state agencies (58%). Other advanced technologies are less widespread – the internet of things (IoT) is used in 20 percent of federal agencies and 29 percent of state agencies, while blockchain was cited by 25 percent of federal agencies and 17 percent of state agencies.

Among public agencies that use AI, the most common application is the automation of workflow processes, adopted by 39 percent of institutions (45 percent at the federal level and 38 percent at the state level).

Next are text mining and natural language processing, used by 35 percent of agencies (46 percent federally and 34 percent at the state level). Machine learning tools for prediction and data analysis follow, used by 31 percent (39 percent at the federal level and 30% at the state level).

Municipal governments

The study mapped the use of AI in Brazilian municipal governments and found that 27 percent of them had used the technology in the 12 months prior to the survey. The data reveal significant disparities based on the size of the municipality – adoption reaches 85 percent in cities with more than 500,000 residents and 81 percent in state capitals, while in municipalities with up to 10,000 residents, the percentage is 22 percent.

This pattern is also observed in the use of other digital technologies, which tends to be higher among municipalities of different sizes.

In municipal administrations, the most common AI applications are process automation (14%) and text mining (12%). City governments reported using these technologies primarily to improve services provided to the public (17%), streamline internal operations (17%), support public policies and core activities (14%), and monitor the use of public resources (10%).

According to survey manager Alexandre Barbosa, the results show that AI is already a reality for a significant portion of the Brazilian public sector.

“At the same time, [the data] highlight that expanding training for public servants is a fundamental step toward ensuring these technologies are incorporated in an increasingly effective manner and contribute to the actual improvement of public services provided to the people,” he stated.

Generative AI

The survey presents a broad overview of the use of generative AI in the Brazilian public sector. At the federal level, 65 percent of public agencies have initiatives to use this technology in internal processes, while 29 percent use it in services provided directly to citizens.

With regard to supporting and preparing teams to use generative AI, 59 percent offer courses or training, 46 percent have acquired specific tools for use in work processes, and 43 percent have established guidelines or user manuals for employees.

“The lack of training emerges as the main barrier to AI adoption in Brazilian public organizations. This challenge was cited by 19 percent of federal agencies, 21 percent of state agencies, and 40 percent of municipal governments,” the survey says.

In municipal administrations, managers also cited as obstacles the fact that technology is not considered a government priority (36%), a lack of need or interest (35%), difficulties related to data availability and quality (35%), and high costs (34%).

Instant messaging tools have established themselves as key channels for serving the public. In city governments, the use of WhatsApp or Telegram for requesting public services increased from 56 percent in 2023 to 64 percent in 2025, making it the second most widely used contact channel by municipalities, behind only the conventional telephone (83%).

At other levels of government, 39 percent of federal public organizations and 43 percent of state public organizations offered mobile messaging capabilities in 2025.