[6] Late 1969, one of many offices funded by the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) invested in a project that expanded the knowledge of network connectivity to many globally sponsored universities and research institutions, including Brazil.
[7] By 1984, LARC focused on providing network links to institutions in Rio de Janeiro by organizing the Rede-Rio Project.
[7] In 1988 the National Research Network (RNP), was formed by the academic communities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
With the surge of competition for customers, coupled with government-imposed requirements, came improvements in cost, quality, and availability of the Internet to Brazilians.
[citation needed] ADSL was successful in Brazil during beta testing and became popular in the early 2000s, being offered by Telefónica (Speedy), Brasil Telecom (Turbo), NET (Virtua), and Telemar (Velox) with typical speeds of around 256 kbit/s down and 128 kbit/s up when introduced.
[10] During the first decade of the 21st century, limited availability of high-speed Internet in Brazil was a major problem, especially in rural regions.
[12] In 2009 a lack of sufficient infrastructure for the Telefônica (Speedy) ISP led to periodic service failures in some areas.
Sales were suspended by the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications (ANATEL) until a process of major infrastructure expansion and rejuvenation was completed.
[citation needed] In 2010, broadband Internet access was available in 88% of Brazilian cities, surpassing all expectations for its expansion.
[15] In 2016 and 2017, major internet providers announced their interest in introducing data caps, a decision that was met with major backlash; for the time being, the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications has not allowed this and "does not plan to reopen the debate on fixed broadband caps" [16] In 2020, there were statistics that showed that 58% of the country population access the Internet solely through their smartphone, a number even higher in the lower income classes.
[22] Some of the most popular websites are web portals, such as Globo.com, UOL and iG; search engines, including Google and Yahoo; and social network services, the most important of which, by far, is Facebook.
[24] In 2 Brazil has the fifth largest number of internet users in the world, behind China, India, The United States, and Indonesia.
[33] The proportion of users accessing the Internet via mobile phones, desktop computers, tablets, and consoles were 55.46%, 43.81%, 0.60%, and 0.13%, respectively.
It governs the use of the Internet in Brazil, through forecasting principles, guarantees, rights and duties to those who use the network as well as the determination of guidelines for state action.
[43] In 2022, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes banned Twitter/X for use within the country due to concerns related to misinformation being spread about the 2022 election.
[45] [46] Additionally, in 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a law to tighten the regulation of online gambling companies by increasing their tax burden.
[47] The action says that the loot boxes’ randomized results and mandatory paywall make the mechanic a form of gambling akin to a slot machine, and thus should be illegal under Brazilian law.
However, since it is common to find a person with multiple social network profiles, blogs and flogs or even fake registrations in these, statistics about which country has the most users may not always be reliable.
In the 2000s, Brazil was also home to the highest number of MSN Messenger users, an instant messaging program that was very popular among teenagers.
Brasil were relatively popular (in the 2000s), and may have contributed to AOL's failure in the Brazilian market, while UOL ranks highly in Alexa.
[60] Brazilian esports presently occupy the mobile games market far more than other platforms due to smartphone accessibility.
[64] Brazil's meme culture has been described as “oblique” and “self deprecating” while also reflecting many of the current political issues present.