DiDi Global Subsidiary Suffers Legal Setback in Brazil Delivery War
Brazil's Court of Justice of São Paulo has upheld an unfair competition ruling against DiDi Global's 99Food, ordering damages in a legal battle with market leader iFood.
US investors tracking global technology conglomerates are seeing the financial and legal risks of aggressive international expansion play out in South America. The highly consolidated Brazilian digital market has become a fierce battleground for major tech platforms, where local dominant players are successfully using regional courts to block aggressive market-entry tactics from foreign competitors.
On October 21, 2026, the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP) unanimously upheld a ruling convicting 99Food—the food delivery branch of Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Global—of unfair competition against Brazil’s market leader, iFood. The court maintained a 50,000 BRL ($10,000 USD) moral damages fine and ordered 99Food to pay material damages, which are still being calculated. The lawsuit targeted two aggressive advertising campaigns ("Taxômetro" and "Respostas Bem Servidas") that the court ruled used distorted, unverified data to disparage iFood without presenting objective comparisons.
According to the TJ-SP ruling, the "Taxômetro" campaign claimed that iFood collected 62.7 million BRL per day in merchant fees. However, the court found this figure was presented as an absolute fact despite being calculated from outdated and inconsistent estimates. The second campaign, "Respostas Bem Servidas," selectively highlighted negative customer tweets about iFood to promote 99Food. The presiding judge, Rui Cascaldi, noted in his decision that the advertising "does not inform; it accuses," ruling that platforms cannot use a competitor’s reputation to disparage them and capture market share.
This legal setback comes as DiDi's 99Food faces a multi-front battle in Brazil, which is one of the world's most lucrative delivery markets, projected by Statista to reach $27 billion by 2029. Beyond its legal battle with local giant iFood, 99Food is also clashing with Keeta, the delivery arm of Chinese rival Meituan, which entered Brazil in 2025 with a promised $1.1 billion (5.6 billion BRL) investment. On September 29, 2026, the same São Paulo court ruled 99Food's exclusivity clauses illegal nationwide, clearing the path for Keeta to expand to 32 Brazilian cities.
For foreign tech companies, the Brazilian regulatory and legal landscape presents a steep learning curve. While comparative advertising is legally permitted in Brazil, the self-regulatory body CONAR and the local courts enforce strict standards requiring objective, verifiable, and equivalent data. The unanimous decision by the TJ-SP underscores that global capital alone cannot bypass local market rules, signaling to international investors that expansion in Brazil requires strict compliance with regional fair-competition standards.