In front of cameras livestreaming to 141 viewers on the internet, a 17-year-old boy throws Molotov cocktails at a man sleeping on the street in Rio de Janeiro. The victim survives but is in serious condition, with burns covering 70 percent of his body.
According to the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, the barbaric crime was instigated and commissioned through Discord, a digital platform commonly used by children and teenagers for chatting. As part of a challenge promoted by users of the platform, the teenager was offered a reward of approximately $350.
Investigations revealed that the attack was not an isolated case, underscoring the dangers that children and teenagers face online—whether as targets of violence or as individuals manipulated into carrying it out.
The administrators of the server that streamed the attack are members of a criminal organization specializing in cybercrime. The investigation covers a range of offenses, including hate crimes, attempted murder, incitement to suicide, animal abuse, promotion of Nazism, and the possession and distribution of child pornography.
“The group’s activities are so prominent in the virtual sphere that they caught the attention of two independent agencies in the United States, both of which issued reports on the case and contributed to the civil police investigation,” the police said.
Shared responsibility
The responsibility for ensuring safe digital environments for children and adolescents is shared by families and schools, and must also involve the regulation of major technology companies by public authorities, argues Rodrigo Nejm, digital coordinator at the Alana Institute.
The digital education specialist supports holding online platforms accountable when they fail to protect teenagers within their environments.
Nejm believes that big tech companies have a responsibility to implement security measures. “[What is needed are] protective mechanisms that hold companies accountable when they fail to safeguard teenagers, more thoughtful content recommendation systems to prevent the promotion of violent or harmful material, and regulations to address the use of addictive design features—what are known as manipulative design functions—which have been shown to harm users’ health.”
Age verification
Another recommended measure is age verification using methods that go beyond simple self-declaration, which can be easily bypassed by users entering a false date of birth. In December 2024, Brazil’s Federal Senate approved a bill (PL No. 2628/2022) requiring age verification for access to social networking platforms and pornographic websites.
According to Rodrigo Nejm, verifying the age of internet users is an important safeguard to prevent children and teenagers from accessing social networks and being exposed to content intended for older audiences. However, he emphasizes that it is equally important to protect those who are already active in these digital spaces.
“There are several possible methods—stricter ones for high-risk platforms, and simpler approaches for those considered less harmful. What we urgently need in Brazil is regulation that mandates the implementation of these measures,” Nejm says.
Cyberbullying
The debate over the promotion of violence in digital environments—particularly through the grooming of children and teenagers to commit crimes—has gained further traction following the international success of the Netflix series Adolescence. Across four episodes, the series explores the murder of a girl, with a schoolmate as the prime suspect. With teenagers immersed in their own digital languages —often on platforms unfamiliar to both parents and authorities—the series highlights the vulnerability of minors and the lack of preparedness among adults to confront the complex threats of the digital environment.
Among the various forms of violence faced by children and adolescents is cyberbullying, which also features in the narrative of the British series. Juliana Gebrin, a psychologist and neuropsychologist at the Institute of Applied Psychology and Training in Portugal (IPAF), believes the series plays an important role in raising awareness about bullying in schools and in both physical and digital environments.
She told Agência Brasil that the most effective way to address the issue is through prevention, emphasizing the importance of parents and schools in recognizing signs that bullying is occurring. These signs can appear in both victims and aggressors. In many cases, she notes, those who bully others may have previously been victims themselves.
Traumas
Drawing from her clinical experience, neuropsychologist Juliana Gebrin notes that the main targets of bullying are individuals who fall outside socially accepted norms of appearance, behavior, or thinking—such as people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and shy children and adolescents.
Victims often undergo drastic behavioral changes, becoming more aggressive, anxious, or depressed. They may struggle with low self-esteem, withdraw socially, and—in more severe cases—develop suicidal thoughts or even attempt suicide.
*Translated by Mario Nunes
Original article published in Agência Brasil.
