Government and social media networks meet to combat illegal gambling sites on social media.

Regis Dudena, Secretary of Prizes and Betting at the Ministry of Finance, held a virtual meeting with representatives of the Brazilian Digital Council to discuss the regulation of fixed-odds betting advertising on digital platforms. The meeting took place this Friday (19), from 15 pm to 16 pm, and included the participation of representatives from the main technology companies operating in Brazil.

The meeting focused on implementing mechanisms to identify and remove links from unauthorized betting operators on digital platforms. The dialogue is part of a cooperation agreement signed on July 3rd between the Brazilian Prize and Betting Secretariat (SPA) and the Brazilian Digital Council to improve security in the social media betting market.

“We made an agreement with Conselho Digital (association representing major social networks and search platforms) to remove links from unauthorized operators. What we are asking of them is, initially, that they have a dedicated channel through which we can notify them about the presence of links from illegal companies so that they stop providing access to the link in their tools. Our goal is that they also proactively help us in not making this link available. So, initially, it's about receiving our notification and taking it down, but the idea is that they also help us in their own identification, given that here, strictly speaking, we are talking about something binary. That is or is not illegal,” explained Dudena in an exclusive interview with BNLData published this Thursday (18).

The Ministry of Finance team included Daniele Correa Cardoso, Deputy Secretary of the SPA, Francisco Carvalheira Neto, General Coordinator of Regulation, Leandro dos Reis Lucchesi, Coordinator of Regulation, and Andiara Maria Braga Maranhão, General Coordinator of Responsible Gaming Monitoring. Beatriz Pioltine Macedo Costato, an assistant to the ministry, also participated.

The Brazilian Digital Council, founded in 2019, brings together eight of the leading technology companies in the country, such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Kwai, and Amazon. Felipe Melo França, CEO, and Roberta Jacaranda Moreira Azevedo, Director of Institutional Relations, led the organization's delegation.

Veronica Hoe, senior public policy manager at Meta Brasil, Beatriz Falcão Vilarinho Fernandes, head of government relations at Kwai Brasil, and Juliana Moura Bueno, public policy manager at Google Brasil, represented their respective platforms. ByteDance, owner of TikTok, sent Lara Cotrim Ferreira as legal counsel.

The delegation from the Brazilian Digital Council also included Deborah Cavalcanti Lima Rios, Maria Clara Gusmão, Rebeca Mota dos Santos, and Yngrid Nascimento Araujo de Almeida, all analysts and public policy managers. Antonio Carlos Abbatepaolo Dias, senior manager at Launch Pad Tecnologia, and Marilia de Aguiar Monteiro, head of Public Policy for Latin America and Brazil, completed the group.

The main objective was to discuss compliance with advertising regulations for fixed-odds betting and to contribute proposals to the decision-making process regarding government strategies on this topic.

The agreement signed in July at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Brasília aims to establish mechanisms to identify and remove content related to unauthorized betting operators on social media and search platforms, which are frequently disseminated by digital influencers. This agreement is a cooperative action tool to prevent, detect, and take down content linked to betting that violates national legislation.

One of the central points of the agreement is the establishment of bilateral communication channels between SPA (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol - Football Society of Foz do Iguaçu) and digital platforms so that notifications about content that violates the law and its eventual removal can be made in an organized and faster manner. The agreement also aims to ensure greater effectiveness in the observance, in the digital environment, of legislation protecting children and adolescents.

“This agreement is very important for the regulation of the fixed-odds betting market in Brazil. Since the Prizes and Betting Secretariat began its work, we have intensified actions in this intertwined connection with the digital world. With this, we concluded that an agreement like this would be highly desirable,” said Dudena during the signing of the agreement.

The construction of the agreement required the involvement of all sectors of the SPA (Portuguese Society of Authorities), to face one of its main challenges in achieving the protection of bettors and the popular economy: the fight against illegal betting sites, as well as the advertising they carry out.

The regulation of the online betting sector involves cooperation between public bodies and technology companies to protect Brazilian consumers in the digital environment.