DIGITAL ADULTIFICATION AND LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY: PREMATURE EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN AND DUTIES OF FAMILY AND STATE PROTECTION

Abstract

This article analyzes the legal and normative evolution regarding the protection of children and adolescents in the Brazilian digital environment, highlighting the transition from pioneering jurisprudential precedents to structural legislative consolidations. It begins by examining the Special Appeal No. 1.783.269/MG of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), reported by Justice Antonio Carlos Ferreira, which established the understanding of the civil liability of application providers for relevant omission in maintaining harmful content to minors, waiving the need for a prior court order. Next, it examines the social and epidemiological context of online child abuse, exacerbated by the algorithmic architecture of platforms—a phenomenon evidenced by the public debate surrounding the commercial exploitation and adultization of minors. The study addresses the paradigm shift promoted by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in declaring the partial unconstitutionality of Article 19 of the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (Marco Civil da Internet), establishing a tiered liability regime and the concept of "systemic failure" for highly serious crimes. Finally, it investigates the legislative response embodied in the creation of the National System for the Prevention of Cybernetic Pedophilia (Sinape) and the enactment of the Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent (Law No. 15.211/2025). It concludes that judicial sensitivity was crucial to anticipate and guide the current state policy, replacing a reactive punitive model with a paradigm of proactive care, thereby reaffirming the principle of integral protection in the face of the informational society's complex challenges.