Internal messages cited

Folha de S.Paulo reported on Friday, 16 October, that staff at Meta had admitted internally to restricting the Instagram accounts of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the campaign. The newspaper based this on internal communications it had seen. According to the same account, the profile of Lula's challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro, and his WhatsApp channel were recommended to users on the platform instead. Meta later rejected the allegations of political interference.

Meta's response

Meta said the technical problems named in the report had already been publicly known. The conversations quoted by Folha, the company argued, concerned only how serious those problems were, not any political influence. Meta also said every incident cited by Lula's campaign could be explained technically. In its statement, the company said that any claim it favours one side is false. Lula's party says some of his posts appeared without a share button, had lower reach or showed other technical faults, while posts by his challenger reached far more people.

Complaints to the OAS and the UN

Lula's camp announced early in the week that it would file a complaint with the Organization of American States (OAS). On Saturday, 17 October, the campaign also took the case to Leopoldo Maldonado, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, with a technical report attached. The filing asks prosecutor general Paulo Gonet and the Federal Police to investigate whether Flávio Bolsonaro received economic advantages in distribution and content production from Meta's systems, which the campaign says would amount to an electoral offence. It also asks for testimony from Flávio Bolsonaro, the campaign treasurer and Meta's directors in Brazil, and for internal communications and reach data to be preserved. Examples cited include reduced reach for Lula's Instagram profiles, WhatsApp search results for the channel 'Ejército de Lula' that suggested the channel 'Tropa de Flávio', and a Meta AI tool that refused to generate images supporting Lula while doing so for the far-right candidate. The campaign also wants international legal cooperation with the United States to obtain records from the parent company.

Court order and the runoff

On Thursday, 15 October, a judge of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered Meta not to restrict unjustifiably the reach of political content from either candidate until the campaign ends. The judge also barred Meta AI from favouring either candidate when producing election content. Non-compliance would trigger a daily fine of 500,000 reais, about 88,000 euros. The judge also said there was so far no reliable evidence that Meta had deliberately suppressed the content of any candidate.

Key dates in the Meta campaign dispute
  1. TSE judge orders Meta not to unjustifiably restrict political reach of both candidates
  2. Folha reports Meta staff admitted restricting Lula's Instagram accounts
  3. Lula's campaign takes its complaint to the UN rapporteur
  4. Presidential runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro

The runoff takes place on 25 October, with Lula facing Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been convicted. EL PAÍS reports polls showing a technical tie, with Bolsonaro narrowly ahead. The campaign's filings are allegations, and Meta rejects them.