Cascavel Ordered to Pay R$5,000 After Guard's Photos Became Offensive WhatsApp Stickers

Overview

• A municipal guard in Cascavel discovered that her photos had been turned into offensive WhatsApp stickers that were saved and shared from computers in the Central de Videomonitoramento.
• The 4ª Turma Recursal of the Tribunal de Justiça do Paraná found municipal omission and unanimously upheld a final judgment requiring the city to pay R$5,000 in moral damages plus attorney fees set at 20% of the award.
• Court records show the stickers were stored in the 'frequently used' and 'favorites' tabs on restricted-access monitoring equipment, which judges cited as evidence the municipality failed to stop the abuse.
• The Prefeitura of Cascavel denies that its staff were proven to be the creators but says it opened an internal disciplinary procedure through the Corregedoria and reiterated a zero-tolerance harassment policy.
• Legal experts note that creating stickers is not automatically illegal but that Brazilian law protects image and honor, so similar conduct can lead to civil liability or criminal charges and places a duty on public employers to police restricted devices and group chats.