Brazil: Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories ruled on platform intermediary's content moderation liability (Alianca Credit Advisory v Obvious Brazil Software and Services)

On 22 September 2025, the Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT) upheld a ruling ordering Obvious Brazil Software and Services to pay damages to a company following the publication of undue complaints on its platform. The plaintiff company had several complaints incorrectly attributed to it, which were intended for another entity. The court found that the defendant's repeated omission constituted a systemic failure, thereby precluding the application of the liability exclusion clause outlined in the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet. The initial ruling by the 23rd Civil Court of Brasília stated that the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet does not exempt platform providers from due diligence when they are clearly aware of irregularities. The judge emphasised that maintaining false information, which wrongly linked the plaintiff's name to complaints concerning an unrelated company, caused moral distress and damaged the plaintiff's credibility with consumers and business partners. The defendant appealed, asserting non-responsibility for user-generated content and stating that it had complied with court orders to remove content, attributing responsibility to the users who posted the complaints. However, the Panel clarified that while internet application providers are generally not liable for third-party actions, in this instance, allowing systemic errors to persist after notification led to the platform assuming the risk of causing harm, incurring strict liability. The panel concluded that the platform's failure to take corrective action, despite being aware of the issue, compromised the company's credibility and consumer confidence, establishing a direct causal link for civil liability. Consequently, the Panel upheld the order for the defendant to pay BRL 5'000 in moral damages and remove the misattributed complaints from the plaintiff's profile.