Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court has given Meta 24 hours to demonstrate that its algorithms and artificial intelligence systems treat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his right-wing challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, equally, escalating a dispute over alleged political bias on social media days before the presidential election.
Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze issued the order on Sunday night, ruling that Meta’s previous explanations were insufficient. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, faces a daily fine of one million reais (US$200,000) if it fails to meet the new deadline, double the penalty previously imposed.
The dispute comes as Brazil approaches a presidential election on Sunday, 25 October, in which Lula, of the left-wing Workers’ Party, is seeking another term against Bolsonaro, of the right-wing Liberal Party. The contest is the closest presidential election in decades, following Brazil’s restoration of democracy in 1985.
Bellizze had ordered Meta on Friday to guarantee equal treatment for both candidates. According to Brazilian media reports, the judge was dissatisfied with the company’s response, which included self-imposed deadlines, references to technical difficulties, reports submitted in English without translations and documents presented without sufficient context.
Lula has accused Meta’s systems of unfairly favouring Bolsonaro, raising complaints before the electoral court, the Federal Police and the United Nations. Bolsonaro has also lodged a complaint with the court, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
The allegations concern the distribution and creation of political content across Meta’s platforms. Lula’s campaign claims that the reach of his Instagram profiles was restricted and that searches on WhatsApp for the Lula Army channel, a network of volunteers campaigning on social media, suggested Bolsonaro’s Flávio’s Troop channel instead.
Lula’s team has also alleged that Meta’s artificial intelligence tool refused to generate electoral posters featuring the president and the number 13, which voters must enter on the ballot to support him, while readily creating a poster for Bolsonaro featuring his ballot number, 22.
The president’s campaign argues that these alleged disparities could constitute an electoral crime by providing Bolsonaro with an economic advantage through the platforms’ systems for distributing and producing content. On Saturday, Lula asked the Federal Police, the Attorney General of the Republic and the UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression to investigate the matter.
Meta has disputed the feasibility of some of the electoral court’s requirements. In its earlier response, the company argued that the human review of content demanded by the court could disrupt its operations and delay approval of advertisements for all campaigns, O Globo reported. Meta also said compliance would require it to suspend all advertisements relating to social issues, elections or politics.
On Monday, a Meta spokesperson in Brazil expressed regret over Bellizze’s decision but said the company would provide further information to the electoral court. The spokesperson said the ruling “complies with Brazilian electoral regulations” and added: “We will share additional information with the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) regarding technical aspects that may not have been fully considered in its decision.”
The court’s intervention places the conduct of a major technology company under scrutiny at a critical stage of Brazil’s election campaign. Social media and WhatsApp have become central channels for political messaging, campaigning and attacks on opponents, increasingly competing with traditional rallies and television and radio advertising.
The controversy also comes amid intense political polarisation in Brazil. Lula’s team argues that electoral integrity depends not only on secure ballot boxes and accurate vote counting but also on voters being able to form political opinions freely, without manipulation, coercion, discriminatory access to information or an imbalance in the digital campaign.
Lula trailed Bolsonaro by nearly two percentage points in the first round of voting. The electoral court’s deadline requires Meta to provide further evidence of equal treatment before Brazilians vote in the decisive presidential contest on 25 October.
