Lula da Silva negotiates with TikTok mega data center

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to discuss an investment in a data center in Brazil, a meeting marked by political and environmental controversies and tensions over digital regulation.

The meeting, held at Brazil's permanent mission to the United Nations, was Lula's first official engagement in New York, where he is participating in the high-level week of the UN General Assembly.

According to Brazilian authorities, ByteDance's proposed investment could reach 55 billion reais (approximately 8.72 billion euros), which would make it one of the largest technology infrastructure projects ever announced in the country.

Since April, the Chinese company has been in negotiations to install a "large-scale data center" in the state of Ceará, attracted by the abundance of renewable energy, particularly wind energy, and the proximity of submarine internet cables that connect South America to destinations in North America, Europe, and Africa.

The center would be built in the industrial and port area of ​​Pecém, located in the municipality of Caucaia, which benefits from the status of Export Processing Zone (ZPE), offering tax incentives and expedited licensing to companies with operations aimed at abroad.

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, who has been following the process, said last week that he was “very confident” that Ceará “will receive good news”, describing the negotiations as “well advanced”.

However, the project has generated strong opposition. The Anacé Indigenous population claims that the proposed lands coincide with areas traditionally occupied by their people and that the right to prior, free, and informed consultation—as guaranteed by international conventions ratified by Brazil—has been violated.

Local community organizations also warn of the impact on a semiarid region facing chronic water scarcity, with a significant portion of the population relying on cisterns. Environmental groups also dispute the data presented by the project's developer, who estimates daily water consumption of 30,000 liters —a volume considered unrealistic for a data center of this size, even with a closed cooling system.

Although the state government maintains that the licenses comply with environmental legislation and that the territory is not officially recognized as indigenous land, the Anacé community has appealed to the Federal Public Ministry and promises new actions to halt construction.

The meeting between Lula and the TikTok director took place days after the Brazilian leader approved new legislation regulating the digital economy. Among the approved measures is the so-called "digital ECA," inspired by the Child and Adolescent Statute, which establishes age verification mechanisms, restrictions on advertising aimed at minors, transparency rules, and parental controls.

A national data center policy was also approved, exempting sustainable projects from federal taxes and reserving part of the computing capacity for the domestic market, with the aim of offering greater legal security to foreign investors.

Monday's conversation also took place under the shadow of a previous diplomatic episode. In May, during a state dinner in Beijing hosted by Xi Jinping, Brazilian First Lady Rosângela Lula da Silva broke protocol by criticizing TikTok for promoting content harmful to children and amplifying far-right rhetoric in Brazil. The intervention prompted an official response from the app's parent company, ByteDance, and led Xi to promise closer dialogue with Brasília on platform regulation.

Subsequently, a Brazilian delegation traveled to China to attempt talks with the company, but to no avail. Rosângela Lula da Silva, who attended Monday's meeting in New York, has continued to warn about the app's social impact, although official sources have not confirmed whether the issue of regulation was addressed during the meeting.