Elections in Brazil: Meta has 24 hours to prove that Lula da Silva and Flavio Bolsonaro are treated equally

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court has given Meta 24 hours to demonstrate that it is treating the campaigns of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and conservative opposition candidate Flávio Bolsonaro equally, just days before the second round of the presidential election.

If it fails to comply with the order, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp risks a fine of one million reais, equivalent to approximately $200,000, for each day of delay.

The decision came after Lula accused Meta of limiting the distribution of his content on Instagram and WhatsApp and said the platform’s artificial intelligence algorithms were favoring Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign. The president’s party filed complaints with the electoral court and the Organization of American States, while Lula supporters protested outside Meta’s headquarters in São Paulo.

Meta denied the allegations of bias but acknowledged that some of Lula’s electoral advertisements had been deactivated because of technical incidents. Previously, the court had ordered the company to apply the same rules on the distribution, recommendation and display of electoral content to both candidates and had set a daily fine of 500,000 reais. Judges found, however, that Meta had failed to demonstrate that most of the measures were being applied, prompting the penalty to be increased.