— Edition 1.247 33 verified trackers
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Politics · Technology · Digital regulation  ·  where data speaks before headlines
Snapshot data
AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 455 penalties documented 455 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 401 regula… CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones 6 milestones in Spain's DSA Coordinator rollout; as of May 2026 still… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 7 breaches documented 7 corporate data breaches documented by notification conduct and outc… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled 16 countries profiled by digital regulatory risk (coverage expanded w… DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 8 documented DMA acts 8 acts in the DMA gatekeeper regime: 7 designated, first final fines … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 22 elections profiled 22 2026 elections profiled by political regime (EIU) and digital envi… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 5 documented campaigns 5 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 9 authorities profiled 9 national authorities profiled; ~€7.1bn in GDPR fines since 2018, bu… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 5 country-platform observ… 5 observations of digital political ad spending in 2026 elections, me… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 8 laws and milestones 8 laws and milestones in the US AI patchwork; with no comprehensive f… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases 29 senior officials prosecuted for corruption across 19 countries, wi… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 10 documented cases 10 crypto-sector collapse, sanction and conviction cases across 4 cou… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 100 documented cases 100 litigated AI-harm cases across 25 jurisdictions on 5 continents, … Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged Series starting — Odebrecht/Lava Jato as base case Technology ↔ regulation gap — 25 regulatory milestones 25 milestones across 11 jurisdictions; gaps from 0 to 22 years; Chile… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents Digital fines actually imposed — 60 sanctions recorded 60 high-value sanctions across 17 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3 / 27 Member States Art. 70 deadline expired 2 Aug 2025 — process still open AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Designation process opened 2 Aug 2025 · high-risk deadline Aug 2026 AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… Only 3 of 27 MS with both authorities designated by early 2026 EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 7 documented events · 202… Venezuela concentrates the region's most severe blocks LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… X complied with the orders and was reinstated after 39 days of suspen… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 22 documented cases 22 verified commercial-spyware cases across 12 countries on four cont… RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 worst regional rank (Pe… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7 LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified Niubox January 2026 — only 4 Iberoamerican countries with law in force AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 455 penalties documented 455 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 401 regula… CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones 6 milestones in Spain's DSA Coordinator rollout; as of May 2026 still… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 7 breaches documented 7 corporate data breaches documented by notification conduct and outc… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled 16 countries profiled by digital regulatory risk (coverage expanded w… DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 8 documented DMA acts 8 acts in the DMA gatekeeper regime: 7 designated, first final fines … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 22 elections profiled 22 2026 elections profiled by political regime (EIU) and digital envi… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 5 documented campaigns 5 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 9 authorities profiled 9 national authorities profiled; ~€7.1bn in GDPR fines since 2018, bu… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 5 country-platform observ… 5 observations of digital political ad spending in 2026 elections, me… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 8 laws and milestones 8 laws and milestones in the US AI patchwork; with no comprehensive f… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases 29 senior officials prosecuted for corruption across 19 countries, wi… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 10 documented cases 10 crypto-sector collapse, sanction and conviction cases across 4 cou… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 100 documented cases 100 litigated AI-harm cases across 25 jurisdictions on 5 continents, … Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged Series starting — Odebrecht/Lava Jato as base case Technology ↔ regulation gap — 25 regulatory milestones 25 milestones across 11 jurisdictions; gaps from 0 to 22 years; Chile… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents Digital fines actually imposed — 60 sanctions recorded 60 high-value sanctions across 17 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3 / 27 Member States Art. 70 deadline expired 2 Aug 2025 — process still open AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Designation process opened 2 Aug 2025 · high-risk deadline Aug 2026 AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… Only 3 of 27 MS with both authorities designated by early 2026 EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 7 documented events · 202… Venezuela concentrates the region's most severe blocks LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… X complied with the orders and was reinstated after 39 days of suspen… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 22 documented cases 22 verified commercial-spyware cases across 12 countries on four cont… RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 worst regional rank (Pe… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7 LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified Niubox January 2026 — only 4 Iberoamerican countries with law in force
/ trackers / latam-platform-sanctions
LATAM · Platforms · Sanctions and litigation

LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on platforms

Registry of judicial and regulatory sanctions imposed on digital platforms in Latin America: fines, court-ordered suspensions, asset freezes, and local legal representative requirements. Unlike the internet shutdowns tracker — which documents connectivity restrictions, often opaque — this registry collects formal, documented actions by the judiciary or regulators against identified platforms, with their legal basis, sanction amount, and resolution. The paradigmatic case is the suspension of X in Brazil by order of the Federal Supreme Court in 2024. Diálogo Ciudadano distinguishes between the procedural legitimacy of each action (court order with due process) and its effect on free expression, without taking sides: it documents the legal basis invoked and the criticism of each case.

Snapshot · May 21, 2026
$5,2M
USD · fine on X Corp. in Brazil (2024)
→ X complied with the orders and was reinstated after 39 days of suspension

Evolution

Data analysis

Statistical readings derived from the attributes of each recorded case. All figures come from the documented events; amounts are computed only over cases with a sum expressed in the indicated currency, without converting between currencies.

Type of action against platforms

Nature of each documented measure (judicial suspension, asset freeze, fine…). Record limited to Brazil.

Reading the data

Four sanctions on digital platforms in Latin America share one stage: Brazil, the Federal Supreme Court and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The 2024 suspension of X affected 22 million users and marked the toughest standoff between a state and a platform in the region.

MM
Mariano Marçal · Correspondent — Brazil · São Paulo
June 7, 2026 · 3 min read

Latin America has produced the most resounding clash between a judiciary and a major platform, and this tracker documents it: the four recorded sanctions all occur in Brazil, all issued by the Federal Supreme Court and, specifically, by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. They range from the judicial suspension of X —which left some 22 million users without service in 2024— to the freezing of Starlink's assets and fines on Telegram.

The concentration in a single country and a single judge is itself the data point to watch. It does not mean the rest of the region does not regulate platforms, but that Brazil has been, by far, the Latin American jurisdiction that has pushed the standoff furthest —using the Marco Civil da Internet and the local-representative requirement as levers. The tracker will follow whether that model is exported to other countries or remains a Brazilian exception.

Methodology note

Each sanction records the platform, the type of action, the legal basis, the authority and the users affected where available. Assessments are attributed to the cited court rulings, never to this outlet.

Documented events (4)

October 8, 2024 BR confirmed

X complies, pays USD 5.2M in fines and is reinstated in Brazil

On 8 October 2024, after 39 days of suspension, X was reinstated in Brazil after complying with the Federal Supreme Court's orders: blocking the flagged profiles, paying the imposed fines — totaling about USD 5.2 million — and appointing a legal representative in the country. The case set a regional precedent on a court's ability to suspend a global platform for breaching local law, and fueled an intense debate over free expression and the limits of social media, inside and outside Brazil. X had closed its offices in Brazil before the block and called Moraes's orders 'manifestly illegal.'

Wikipedia · Blocking of X in Brazil ↗ Columbia Global Freedom of Expression · The Case of the X Ban in Brazil ↗
August 30, 2024 BR confirmed

Brazil suspends X by order of the Federal Supreme Court

On 30 August 2024, Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court ordered internet providers to block access to X (formerly Twitter) nationwide. The order originated in X's failure to block accounts associated with the January 2023 Brazilian Congress attack and, above all, in the platform's refusal to appoint a legal representative in Brazil — a requirement Brazilian law imposes on foreign companies. X had over 22 million users in Brazil. De Moraes set a daily fine of up to 50,000 reais (about USD 8,900) for users accessing via VPN. The block lasted from 30 August to 8 October 2024 — one month, one week, and one day.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression · The Case of the X Ban in Brazil ↗ Wikipedia · Blocking of X in Brazil ↗
August 24, 2024 BR confirmed

Brazil freezes Starlink assets to collect X's fines

On 24 August 2024, the Federal Supreme Court extended the freeze of X group bank accounts and assets to Starlink, another company controlled by Elon Musk, considering that X had insufficient assets to cover the fines. The decision was legally controversial: although Musk controls both companies, X and SpaceX (which operates Starlink) are separate entities. Starlink appealed arguing its internet business was not part of the case against X, but the appeal was denied. In September, de Moraes transferred over 7.2 million reais from an X account and Starlink funds, collecting around USD 3.3 million equivalent to the owed fines. The accounts were later unfrozen.

Euronews · Brazil judge withdraws €3 million from X and Starlink accounts ↗ Al Jazeera · Brazil judge blocks Starlink accounts ↗
March 18, 2022 BR confirmed

Brazil threatens to suspend Telegram; the platform complies and appoints a representative

In 2022, Justice Alexandre de Moraes threatened Telegram with a nationwide suspension, arguing the app had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities' requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online. The case is the direct precedent for the logic later applied to X: the local legal representative requirement as a condition of operation, and suspension as a sanction for non-compliance.

NPR · Brazil starts blocking social media platform X amid a dispute with Elon Musk ↗

Methodology

Type
event-log
Construction
DC editorial construction
Cadence
event-driven

Sources consulted

  1. Columbia Global Freedom of Expression · The Case of the X Ban in Brazil ↗ academic

    Legal analysis of the X case in Brazil by the Columbia University center. Detailed timeline of the court orders and their legal basis.

  2. Freedom House · Freedom on the Net ↗ civil-society

    Context on the impact of platform sanctions on internet freedom by country.

  3. Access Now ↗ civil-society

    Documentation of platform blocks and sanctions from a digital-rights perspective.