Internet & Online Safety · Argentina
Online safety & content laws in Argentina (2026)
Argentina shaded by its internet & online safety status
Argentina has no comprehensive online-safety or content-moderation law comparable to the EU DSA or UK OSA. Platform/intermediary liability is governed primarily by Supreme Court case law requiring 'actual knowledge' of unlawful content before liability attaches, supplemented by criminal statutes on grooming and child protection and the data-protection regime; the internet is broadly free from state censorship. Multiple bills on platform obligations and minors' age-verification are under debate in Congress but remain proposals.
Key points
There is no enacted comprehensive online-safety or platform-regulation statute. Online content is regulated through general civil/criminal law, court doctrine, and sector rules rather than a dedicated content-moderation regime.
In Rodríguez v. Google/Yahoo (CSJN, 2014) the Supreme Court held search engines and intermediaries are not strictly liable for third-party content; liability requires 'actual knowledge' of clearly unlawful content and failure to act, with notice specifying the precise location of the material.
Law 26.032 (2005) extends constitutional free-expression guarantees to internet services; Freedom House rates Argentina's internet as generally 'free' with no systematic state censorship or filtering.
Law 26.904 criminalizes online grooming; Law 26.388 covers child sexual content and obscene material to minors; Law 27.590 (Mica Ortega Act, 2020) created a national grooming-prevention and awareness program. These target child protection rather than general platform moderation.
No general age-verification mandate is in force. Bills such as the 'safe digital environments for children and adolescents' bill (Bill 5379-D-2024) and 2026 proposals (e.g., 1114-D-2026) would set minimum ages and parental-consent tiers for social media, but remain pending in Congress.
Personal Data Protection Act 25.326, enforced by the Agencia de Acceso a la Información Pública (AAIP), governs personal data including minors' data online; the AAIP has issued guidelines on data protection of children. A draft modernized data-protection law is also pending.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Reform bills (e.g. 1497-D-2024) based on the AAIP's draft propose a full overhaul of Argentina's data-protection law to align with the EU GDPR and Brazil's LGPD, adding biometric data as sensitive, privacy by design, data portability, and rights against automated decisions. Marks the still-pending modernization of the framework governing online data and platforms.
AAIP (argentina.gob.ar) ↗The data-protection authority published a guidance document for public and private entities on transparency and personal-data protection across the AI lifecycle, the first such soft-law instrument shaping how AI systems handle Argentines' data online.
AAIP (argentina.gob.ar) ↗The AAIP approved a new classification of infractions and graduated-penalty scheme for breaches of the Data Protection (25.326) and 'No Llame' (26.951) laws, streamlining enforcement and creating an offenders' registry. Strengthens the regulator's teeth over online data handling.
Boletín Oficial ↗Amending Law 26.485, the statute defines digital/telematic violence — including non-consensual sharing of intimate images and online harassment — and empowers judges to order platforms to remove offending content. A landmark for online safety of women.
Boletín Oficial ↗The authority established a program to analyze and build capacity for transparent, privacy-respecting AI in the public and private sectors, the foundation for Argentina's later AI guidance.
Boletín Oficial ↗Personal data and DNI images of Argentines — including the president and public figures — were exfiltrated via misused credentials and offered for sale online, prompting RENAPER to overhaul its verification services to return only true/false responses. A major incident exposing weaknesses in state data security.
Chequeado ↗Congress approved the Council of Europe's cybercrime treaty (with reservations), giving Argentine justice international tools to investigate online fraud, child sexual abuse material and related offenses.
Boletín Oficial ↗The law established the Agency for Access to Public Information as an autonomous body that also serves as the enforcement authority for the Personal Data Protection Law 25.326 — the regulator now central to online data and safety oversight.
InfoLEG (Min. Justicia) ↗The CSJN set the leading precedent on search-engine liability: intermediaries are not strictly liable for third-party content and must remove material only after specific, precise notice (judicial for honor-related cases; direct notice for manifestly illegal content like child abuse imagery). Defined the balance between free expression online and personal rights.
SAIJ (Min. Justicia) ↗Argentina made it a crime to contact a minor via electronic communications with intent to commit an offense against their sexual integrity, with penalties of six months to four years. A core online child-safety provision.
argentina.gob.ar ↗The law declared that searching, receiving and disseminating information and ideas via the Internet falls within the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, barring prior censorship online — a foundational principle for Argentine internet regulation.
argentina.gob.ar ↗Argentina's foundational data-protection statute implemented the constitutional habeas data right, regulating public and private databases and granting rights of access, rectification and deletion. It later earned EU adequacy status and remains the backbone of online data governance.
InfoLEG (Min. Justicia) ↗Argentina - other topics
Last verified 5/23/2026 · Orientation, not legal advice - verify against the primary sources linked above. Explore the full world map →