Samara Castro

Samara Castro is Chief of Staff at the Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM) of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil. She leads institutional strategies to strengthen democratic public communication, promote information integrity, and coordinate SECOM’s participation in international forums, including COP30 and BRICS.

From 2023 to 2025, she served as Director for the Promotion of Freedom of Expression at the Secretariat for Digital Policies, where she coordinated Brazil’s national strategy against disinformation on public policies and led the Interministerial Committee on the National Immunization Program. She also managed the government’s “Saúde com Ciência” (Health with Science) program and was the government’s lead negotiator on artificial intelligence regulation.

Samara is a member of Brazil’s National Data Protection Council (CNPD), the Data Protection Officer at SECOM, and a consultant for the AI Governance Lab (LiA.IDP). She also represents Brazil in the G20 Digital Economy Working Group on Information Integrity, and coordinated the Global Initiative for Information Integrity and Climate Change with the UN and UNESCO. In 2024, she received the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award.

A lawyer specializing in electoral and digital law, her career turned toward combating disinformation after the assassination of Marielle Franco. She has experience in strategic litigation, crisis management, and co-founded a data science-focused tech company.

She holds a Master’s degree in Political and Economic Law (Mackenzie) and postgraduate degrees from PUC-Rio and PUC-Minas. She has held leadership roles at OAB/RJ and ABRADEP and teaches at several academic institutions.