Social media regulation in the Americas remains fragmented, with rules spread across content, liability, copyright, taxation and online safety frameworks.

Key findings

None of eight studied countries in the Americas has a comprehensive, unified social media regulation regime or a dedicated social media watchdog agency. None require licences or official authorisations to launch and operate online platforms.

Most of the surveyed countries provide some mechanism to remove presumably illegal content from the web, except Peru. All of them, except for Chile, either define legally what sort of content is not tolerated online or are considering legislation to do so.

Some countries are considering regulatory changes. In Canada, the proposed Safe Social Media Act would create a new independent regulator for digital safety. Meanwhile, a proposal in Brazil would create an internet steering committee with authority to set standards and oversee the social media sector.

What the content covers

Cullen International’s updated social media regulation benchmark reviews the rules and laws applicable to social media platforms in eight countries in the Americas. The benchmark addresses platform authorisation models, safe harbour regimes, illegal or restricted content, enforcement mechanisms, taxation and proposals for new obligations.

Scope

Region: Americas
Countries covered: 8 countries covered by Cullen International in the Americas region; Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile and the US are mentioned in the source text
Policy area: Social media regulation, online safety and platform liability
Published: 3 August 2026

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