Online safety & content laws in Paraguay (2026)

Law 4868 of 2013 defines liability rules for access providers, hosting, caching and linking services. Providers are shielded from monetary damages if they lack knowledge of unlawful material and act expeditiously to remove it; Article 9 requires suspension of content on order of competent authorities for violations of public order, health, security or consumer rights.

Paraguay ratified the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in 2017 and transposed its obligations into the Penal Code: illicit system access (Art. 174b), illicit data access (Art. 146b), illicit interception (Art. 146c), data and system interference (Arts. 174–175), and misuse of devices (Art. 146d). A Specialised Cybercrime Unit within the Public Prosecutor's Office leads investigations.

CONATEL (Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones), created by Law 642/1995, regulates internet service providers, sets broadband quality standards, and issues licensing resolutions. It does not exercise content-moderation powers over platforms but does oversee connection-record retention (ISPs must retain connection logs for six months under Law 4868).

Promulgated 28 November 2025, Law 7593/2025 establishes data-subject rights (access, rectification, deletion, portability) and creates the Agencia Nacional de Protección de Datos Personales under MITIC. It includes reinforced protections for minors' personal data. The law enters into force 24 months after enactment (November 2027); implementing regulations are still pending.

Paraguay has no statute equivalent to the EU Digital Services Act or UK Online Safety Act imposing risk assessments, content-moderation audits, or age-verification obligations on platforms. No such comprehensive bill had been introduced as of mid-2026; the regional pattern across Latin America is similarly fragmented with only Brazil's Marco Civil as a regional comparator.

RSF ranked Paraguay 84th out of 180 in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index. TEDIC and civil society organisations have documented judicial instrumentalisation of gender-violence law (Law 5777/16) to issue preventive censorship orders against online journalism, and Facebook's removal of opposition-party content. Internet access is otherwise open and unfiltered at the network level.