Digital Rights and Competition Law in Brazil: Civil Society and the Reshaping of the Antitrust Agenda

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of re-signification of competition law by civil entities focused on digital rights in Brazil. Based on empirical documentary research, centered on the analysis of institutional publications and event reports in the field of digital rights, it argues that the rapprochement of this segment of civil society with the Brazilian Competition Defense System, especially with Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), is driven by two central institutional movements. The first corresponds to the incorporation of the debate on the regulation of digital platforms by the field of Internet governance, particularly within the scope of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. The second refers to the structuring, by the federal government, of a regulatory agenda on digital markets, materialized in the public consultation of the Secretariat of Economic Reforms of the Ministry of Finance and in Bill No. 4,675/2025. From a substantive point of view, the article argues that the growing engagement of the digital rights community with Cade and the Ministry of Finance has been guided by a neo-Brandeisian approach, which re-establishes competition law in dialogue with democracy, the protection of fundamental rights, and the fight against the abuse of economic power.