Brazil: Meta’s interference in the clash between Lula and Bolsonaro
Following allegations of favouritism towards Bolsonaro, the Electoral Court has intervened. Meta admits to “technical errors”
Key points
- Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race in Sunday’s presidential election
- Demonstrations with placards reading ‘Meta não se meta’ (‘Meta, stay out of it’)
- Algorithms manipulated to favour Bolsonaro
A heart-stopping final sprint and an electorate split down the middle. That alone would be enough to make the final stretch of the Brazilian presidential election, scheduled for Sunday, a gripping affair. But no. The election campaign, centred on below-the-belt tactics, sensationalist statements and fake news, has been further destabilised by a new factor: the serious interference by Meta, which has been accused of penalising candidate Lula to the benefit of Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator from the Liberal Party and leader of the centre-right. Accusations that Meta has been forced to admit.
In Brazil, as the run-off election approaches, the most crowded gathering is not along the avenues or in the city squares. It is a smartphone screen, lit up all day long on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. It’s a shame that the neutrality of Meta’s platforms is a pipe dream: for the past few days, processions of Brazilian citizens have been carrying placards reading ‘Meta, não se meta’ – ‘Meta, don’t interfere’.
The suspicion – which later became a certainty – first arose right there, between one video and the next, when many supporters of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is standing for a fourth term, began to complain that their posts were disappearing or reaching very few people. This led to accusations against Meta (owner of the most popular social media platforms) of favouring Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and a candidate in Sunday’s presidential election. The digital favouritism is alleged to have taken place through restrictions on Lula’s posts, algorithmic manipulation and other AI-based tools. This has led to a request for intervention by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which has recognised the serious unequal treatment carried out by Meta.
The latest development is the announcement by the American tech giant: ‘We have completed the implementation of the measures necessary to comply with the decision of the High Electoral Court’. This admission of fault came after the court had given the company 24 hours to demonstrate that it was treating the two candidates fairly, threatening a fine of over 200,000 euros a day should it fail to do so.
The TSE’s ruling came after Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze’s decision, which upheld the Lula campaign’s request on a key point: the platform must not reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between the two candidates. In other words, the Superior Electoral Court intervened to demand that Meta’s technology ensure equal conditions for both candidates.
