Staff at Meta have reportedly conceded in internal messages that Instagram accounts belonging to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suffered from restrictions during the country’s election, according to media reports.
A Brazilian newspaper that reviewed the messages, published on Friday, said they also acknowledged that the platform recommended the profile of Lula’s challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, along with his WhatsApp channel.
Meta’s response to the internal messages
Meta told a news agency that the technical problems mentioned in the report were already public. It said the conversations concerned only how severe those problems were, not political interference.
In a statement, the company said: “Any suggestion that Meta favors one side is false.”
Lula, the left-wing incumbent, will face right-wing challenger Bolsonaro in a presidential runoff on October 25. The senator performed better than expected in the first round earlier this month.
Court orders equal treatment before the runoff
A Brazilian court ruling on Thursday ordered Meta to immediately adopt measures ensuring equal treatment of the two candidates. The judge, Marco Aurelio Bellizze of Brazil’s top electoral court, issued the ruling shortly after Lula filed a complaint.
Lula’s complaint accused the tech company, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favour Bolsonaro. Bellizze ruled that Meta cannot reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between the two men.
Bellizze also ordered the company to ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both candidacies. He said Meta must pay a fine of 500,000 reais ($98,700) per day if it fails to comply.
Lula’s party said some of his posts appeared without a share button and had reduced reach. Reaction, sharing, audio and accelerated speed options were also missing.
