SAO PAULO – A judge on Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta on Thursday to take immediate steps to ensure equal treatment for the two presidential candidates competing in the Oct. 25 runoff.
The decision followed a complaint from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is facing Flávio Bolsonaro in the race. Lula’s campaign accused Meta — the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — of deploying biased algorithms and artificial intelligence restrictions that favor the opposition candidate.
Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze said Meta must not limit the reach of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in ways that create an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro. The ruling also requires the company’s artificial intelligence tools to apply the same standards to both campaigns.
Meta will face a daily fine of 500,000 reais, or about $98,000, if it does not comply with the order, Bellizze said.
The Lula campaign’s legal filing, reviewed by The Associated Press, alleged that campaign material and organic posts had suffered “unjustified reductions in reach.” It also claimed Meta failed to follow through on a plan it had submitted to the electoral court to resolve the problems.
Meta declined to comment on the ruling.
Lula’s campaign further alleged that accounts and advertisements linked to Flávio Bolsonaro had received artificially boosted visibility, generating engagement levels comparable to those of international celebrities. The presidential contest is tight: Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, won 47% of the vote in the first round on Oct. 4, compared with 45% for the incumbent.
The complaint also pointed to what it described as a major difference in Meta’s artificial intelligence tools. According to the campaign, users were unable to create images related to the 80-year-old president through WhatsApp’s “Meta AI” feature, while similar requests supporting Flávio Bolsonaro could be generated.
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Gean Ferreira and Evelyn Santos, attorneys for the Lula campaign, said in a statement that Meta’s content distribution system selectively disadvantages the incumbent while benefiting Bolsonaro, who is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“On one hand, content from candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his supporters faces delivery restrictions, without any justification or transparency,” the lawyers said. “On the other hand, profiles acting as political operatives for the opposing side … receive a disproportionate and artificial reach, garnering more views even than global celebrities.”
Lula’s campaign is asking Brazil’s top electoral court to end the restrictions immediately. It also wants Meta to compensate for the lost exposure by doubling the campaign’s reach to address the alleged damage.
On Oct. 11, after Lula supporters began reporting problems with Meta’s tools, the company told the electoral court that it rejected claims of favoritism toward Bolsonaro. Meta acknowledged that technical glitches had affected accounts outside Brazil, but said it was complying fully with the country’s electoral rules and committed to providing equal access to its platforms for all political parties.
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