Brazil’s ‘Bulwark’ Sweep Targets Online Extremism and Child Exploitation Across 18 States

Overview

• Led by the Ministry of Justice, the Bulwark operation unfolded Thursday with state civil police executing coordinated actions across 18 states.
• Investigators said the targets promoted extreme violence, hate speech, youth radicalization, and sexual exploitation of children online.
• Officials reported two temporary arrests, one arrest in the act, and court orders to detain two adolescents linked to the cases.
• Police carried out 26 search warrants and seized phones and computers for forensic analysis to track threats and illegal content.
• Authorities requested moderation of 180 accounts and 19 Discord servers, affecting over 5,500 users across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, and Discord, as Ciberlab’s analyses helped link groups that operate in different regions.