Court limits Virginia and Blaze's advertising about betting and orders posts to be deleted within 48 hours

With the decision, Virgínia and bet must adopt transparency parameters and are prohibited from publishing content that could mislead users.

Posts prior to the decision and contrary to judge Renato Rodovalho Scussel's determinations must be removed within 48 hours. If new publications do not comply with the provisions of the decision, there will be a fine of R$100,000 for each non-compliance.

Blaze's advisors were contacted via WhatsApp at 12:26 pm this Wednesday (22), but did not take a position until the publication of this report. The Virginia team stated that the Public Prosecutor's Office's appeal is confidential and that it did not have access to the content of the court decision.

Among the determinations is the prohibition of promising or guaranteeing profits, relating bets to extra income, investment or solution to financial problems and suggesting no risk of loss with bets. Promotions, bonuses or advantages must clearly define who can benefit, without summarizing the information in footnotes.

There is also a specific determination for Virginia. In the document obtained by the report, the judge establishes that all betting advertising published by it "is identified in a clear, conspicuous and unequivocal manner as advertising communication, including when inserted in content of a personal, family, everyday or travel nature".

The decision responds to an appeal by the MPDFT (Public Ministry of the Federal District and Territories) in the public civil action filed against the influencer and Blaze for abusive practices and misleading advertising. The trial judge had recognized the Public Prosecutor's allegations, but denied the request to limit the defendants' posts immediately.

According to the prosecutor's office, Blaze's communication compromises consumer choices about betting. In relation to the content published by Virgínia, especially in Instagram stories, the agency understands that the limit between advertising and personal publications is not clear to followers.

Other MPDFT requests were denied. The judge rejected the indiscriminate exclusion of content about betting, as well as the prohibition of encouraging bets on a specific event or team. Furthermore, it did not accept the ban on devices known as dark patterns - manipulative design of digital environments.

The request to suspend clauses in the contract between Blaze and Virgínia was also denied. According to the decision, although the betting company's balance sheet - revealed by Folha de S. Paulo on July 16 - proves the contractual relationship with the influencer, there is no proof that the remuneration directed to it comes from the losses of bet users.

In the report on the balance sheet, Folha de S. Paulo showed that a publication made by Virgínia during the World Cup was the trigger for the Public Civil Action, according to prosecutor Paulo Roberto Binicheski. The influencer shared in Instagram stories a bet on Cape Verde's victory over Argentina without clearly identifying that it was advertising.

"Blaze's conduct, in co-authorship with Virgínia Fonseca and other agents in its business ecosystem, is not limited to specific illicit acts, but structures predatory engineering to exploit cognitive vulnerabilities on a massive scale", states an excerpt from the action.

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