Legal definitions
In Paraguay “a child” is a person under 14 years of age and “an adolescent” is a person 14 through 17 years of age. A minor is understood to be a child or an adolescent—any person under 18 years of age.
Paraguay’s laws use terms that are defined in ways similar to common definitions for terms including “child sexual exploitation,” “child sexual abuse,” and “child pornography.” “Sexually explicit conduct” is not specifically defined, but criminal laws prohibit sexual acts with a child generally. The Criminal Code prohibits sexual content involving persons under 18 years of age (understood to be all minors), but it does not appear to address or specifically prohibit computer-generated CSAM. Inducing a child to engage in sexual conduct—consistent with broader understandings of online enticement, grooming, and sextortion—is prohibited under the broad law against child abuse.
While a legal age of consent is not explicitly defined, sexual contact with “a child” is always unlawful. Minors aged 14 to 16 years of age cannot consent to sexual contact with adults (at least 18 years of age), but peer-aged sexual contact within that age group appears to be lawful as a close-in-age exception. Therefore, the age of consent may be interpreted to be 17 years, but that is not clearly established by the Criminal Code. Notably, culpability for criminally sexual contact with a minor 14 to 16 years of age only applies to adult males when the minor is a female. Adult females and minor males are not addressed by this rule.
Regulatory requirements/recommendations
According to the Code of Childhood and Adolescence, “It is forbidden to give or tolerate the access of children and adolescents to the exhibition of pornographic publications or shows.” This would theoretically apply to online platforms, but no law or regulation specific to online platforms requires them to take any particular action to protect children from online sexual exploitation. However, internet service providers (and educational institutions, commercial entities, and publicly accessible spaces that make internet access available) are required to provide software to users to filter and block content harmful to minors.
Age verification requirements/recommendations
Online platforms are not required to implement any method to verify the age of a user before allowing access to their services.
Parental consent requirements/recommendations
Online platforms are not required to obtain parental consent before allowing a child to access their services.
Legal remedies for child victims
Child victims can seek injunctions to stop the publication of CSAM or other explicit imagery. Additionally, the law provides for several restrictions during legal proceedings to safeguard CSAM from unauthorized access. Civil actions may be initiated, but if a criminal action is initiated first, the civil case must wait for the criminal case to be resolved. Government-provided support for crime victims is available through the criminal justice system, and a victim is entitled to notification when an offender is arrested for offenses related to CSAM depicting the victim.
"Safety by Design" requirements
Online platforms are not explicitly required to implement “Safety by Design” in their systems, but there are relevant requirements of Internet service providers (which are distinct from online platforms) to make filtering and blocking software available to users.