RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Brazil’s top electoral court has given US technology company Meta 24 hours to demonstrate that its platforms treat President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and presidential challenger Flavio Bolsonaro equally ahead of Sunday’s runoff election.
The Superior Electoral Court issued the order on Monday following complaints from Lula’s campaign alleging that Meta had restricted the visibility of his political content while allowing material supporting Bolsonaro to circulate more widely.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has denied favouring either candidate, attributing problems affecting some of Lula’s campaign advertisements to technical errors.
Court Doubles Penalty for Noncompliance
The court previously directed Meta to apply the same rules to both presidential campaigns, including restrictions on unequal treatment through content recommendations, search results and artificial intelligence tools.
However, in its latest ruling, the court said the company had failed to provide sufficient evidence that it had complied with the earlier instructions.
The daily penalty for noncompliance was consequently increased from approximately $100,000 to $200,000.
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The court said the previous penalty had proved insufficient to secure compliance ahead of the decisive vote on October 25.
Campaigns Raise Concerns Over Online Content
Lula’s campaign has accused Meta of limiting the reach of its political messages and applying inconsistent restrictions through WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence features.
The company acknowledged that some campaign advertisements had been mistakenly deactivated but maintained that the technical problems were not confined to Brazil.
Lula’s Workers’ Party has also submitted complaints to the Organization of American States and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.
On Monday, dozens of Lula supporters demonstrated outside Meta’s offices in Sao Paulo, demanding greater transparency over the company’s handling of election-related content.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro’s campaign has separately accused Lula’s supporters of conducting a negative online publicity campaign with Meta’s approval.
The dispute comes as Brazil prepares for a closely contested presidential runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Recent opinion polls indicate a statistical tie between the candidates, placing additional scrutiny on the role of social media platforms in the final days of campaigning.
