The campaign of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused Meta Platforms of election interference, alleging that its platforms restricted the reach of Lula’s content ahead of the October 25 runoff election against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
The campaign cited technical issues, including an inability to promote posts and the sudden disappearance of leftist leaders’ profiles from Instagram search before the first round of voting. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has ordered Meta to respond to the allegations within 48 hours.
Meta’s Brazil office denied the accusations, calling them “simply false.” It said the reported technical issues were neither exclusive to Brazil nor specific to particular accounts.
The court has requested a detailed report on measures applied to Lula’s official accounts and an explanation of the reported irregularities.