FROM ENGAGEMENT TO ILLNESS: THE CIVIL LIABILITY OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Abstract

This article investigates the civil liability of digital platforms for psychological harm arising from their business models based on the capture and monetization of human attention. Drawing on the Theory of Predatory Cognitive Economics — developed by the authors — it argues that these platforms not only exploit cognitive vulnerabilities but deliberately amplify them, exposing users to foreseeable risks of mental health harm. The article examines the elements of civil liability under Brazilian law, with particular focus on the Civil Code of 2002 and the Internet Civil Rights Framework (Law No. 12,965/2014), and proposes that platform conduct constitutes an unlawful act capable of giving rise to a duty of reparation. It concludes that the application of the theory to strict liability, or subsidiarily to fault-based liability with presumed negligence, provides the dogmatic framework necessary to attribute liability to platforms for the cognitive and psychological damages inflicted upon their users. To this end, a legal-dogmatic methodology of a qualitative nature is adopted, based on bibliographic and documentary analysis, with a systematic examination of national and foreign doctrine, as well as relevant legislation.