MPF recommends that TikTok Brazil delete accounts that advertise the sale of mercury for illegal mining
Quick Look
- The Federal Public Ministry recommended that ByteDance Brasil delete more than 100 posts on TikTok that advertised the sale of mercury for illegal gold mining, mainly in the Amazon, after identifying profiles with contacts in China and commercial appeal in Portuguese, Spanish and English.
- The substance is highly toxic and contaminates food chains, affecting indigenous and riverside populations.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The MPF investigated the use of TikTok to promote and illegally trade mercury, a substance used in gold mining that contaminates rivers and food chains, affecting vulnerable populations in the Amazon.
The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) recommended that ByteDance Brasil, the company responsible for managing TikTok in the country, delete accounts used to advertise the sale of mercury aimed at illegal gold mining on the social network. The agency found more than 100 publications with advertisements for the substance used in illegal activities, mainly in the Amazon.
The recommendation was issued on August 31 in a nationwide civil inquiry, established to investigate the use of social media in the illegal dissemination and trading of mercury. The document was presented by Public Prosecutor André Luiz Porreca Ferreira Cunha.
In a statement, TikTok said that "the content was removed for violating our Community Guidelines on regulated products and services. We prohibit selling, marketing or providing access to regulated, prohibited or high-risk products and services."
⚠️ Mercury is used by miners to separate gold from other sediments and thus leave it "clean". The substance is highly toxic to humans. The metal enters the aquatic food chain and reaches indigenous and riverside populations in the Amazon, and can cause irreversible neurological effects, especially in pregnant women and children, warned the MPF.
MPF mapped content with subtitles and voiceover in Portuguese, with direct commercial appeal for the sale of mercury, including offers, prices, volume and shipping to Brazil — Photo: Reproduction/MPF
The MPF monitoring that identified the publications was carried out in August 2026 and found three profiles that offered mercury. The content was in Portuguese, Spanish and English. The contacts made available for negotiation had numbers associated with China.
"The profiles present themselves as a factory located in the "Capital of Mercury", a designation attributed to the district of Wanshan, in the People's Republic of China, and advertise the metal with a density of 13.6, packaged in 34.5 kg bottles, the international standard for marketing the substance, without indicating the company name, address or business registration", says an excerpt from the recommendation.
READ ALSO:
'For your mining'
In total, 108 publications were found, which totaled more than 5.8 million views. The publications advertised mercury with a purity of 99.999% and informed the minimum quantity for purchase and shipping methods.
One of the profiles was specifically aimed at the Brazilian public. The publications used expressions such as “In Brazil”, “Owner of Garimpo”, “For your mining” and “Wholesale price”, as well as hashtags related to mining, mining and gold in the country. The profile had 7,664 followers and 26.3 thousand likes at the time of monitoring, according to the MPF.
Monitoring also showed that negotiations were migrating to messaging applications, which made it difficult to control transactions.
In the recommendation, the MPF also highlighted that TikTok has rules that prohibit advertising and offering certain risky products, in addition to sharing contacts for negotiations outside the platform.
Mercury is used in mining - illustrative image. — Photo: Bram Ebus/Arquivo
The agency asked the social network to immediately delete the identified profiles and remove related content. It also recommended that the platform carry out active searches to identify and remove illegal content, in addition to improving identification and automatic ad blocking mechanisms.
Measures must prevent content from being recommended or amplified by the platform. The recommendation also provides that, if the ads are maintained, TikTok must require documents that prove the origin of the product and the necessary authorizations for import and use.
TikTok has 30 days to inform the MPF whether it will comply with the recommendation, what measures were taken and whether there was paid promotion or monetization on the investigated profiles.
The MPF also asked the platform to publish the full recommendation on the website's home page and in the application for 30 days. Alternatively, TikTok can publish its own text that makes clear the ban on the sale of liquid mercury on the social network.
Read other news from the state on g1 Roraima.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
TikTok will remove the profiles and content identified by the MPF within 30 days.
Likely · Within days
The MPF will monitor compliance with the recommendation and may apply sanctions if TikTok does not meet the requirements.
Possible · Within weeks
Open Questions
- Will TikTok comply with the MPF's recommendation within 30 days?
- What specific measures will be taken to automatically block mercury ads?
- Will negotiations migrated to messaging applications be monitored by authorities?
