Meta Internal Reports Suggest Lula's Accounts Faced Restrictions During Brazil Election

Internal communications at Meta indicate that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva experienced negative impacts due to restrictions during the country's election period, according to media reports. These messages, detailed by Brazilian daily Folha de S Paulo on Friday, also revealed that the platform promoted the profile of Lula's challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, and his WhatsApp channel. Folha, based in Sao Paulo, cited reviewed messages in its report.

Meta stated to Reuters news agency that the technical issues mentioned were already publicly known and that the referenced conversations pertained only to the severity of these issues, not political interference. "Any suggestion that Meta favors one side is false," the company added in a statement.

Lula, the incumbent left-wing president, is set to face the right-wing challenger Bolsonaro in a presidential runoff on October 25, following a surprisingly strong performance by the senator in the initial round of voting earlier this month.

Friday's report emerged shortly after a ruling by a Brazilian court on Thursday, which mandated Meta to promptly implement measures ensuring equal treatment for both candidates in the lead-up to the runoff. The decision by a judge at Brazil’s highest electoral court came after Lula filed a complaint alleging that the tech giant, owner of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, utilized biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favor opposition candidate Bolsonaro in the election.

Justice Marco Aurelio Bellizze ruled that Meta must not reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches, or remove posts in a manner that creates an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro. The ruling also compels the company to ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both candidacies.

Bellizze stipulated that Meta would face a daily fine of 500,000 reais ($98,700) for non-compliance. Lula's party reported that some of his posts lacked a share button and had diminished reach, with missing options for reactions, sharing, audio, or accelerated playback.