Brazilian Lula wins electoral lawsuit against Meta for alleged bias of pro-Bolsonaro algorithm

SÃO PAULO — A judge at Brazil’s top electoral court ruled Thursday that Meta must adopt measures to immediately ensure equal treatment of the two presidential candidates before the Oct. 25 runoff.

The move comes shortly after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, running against Flávio Bolsonaro, filed a lawsuit accusing the tech company that owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favor opposition candidate Bolsonaro ahead of the election.

Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze ruled that Meta could not reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that would create an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro. Its decision also orders the company to ensure that its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both applications.

Bellizze said in his ruling that Meta will have to pay a fine of 500,000 reais ($98,000) per day if it does not comply.

Lula’s campaign legal filing, accessed by The Associated Press, says Meta subjected Lula’s campaign materials and organic posts to “unjustified reductions in scope.” He also said Meta had failed to comply with a plan submitted to the election court to resolve these issues.

Meta declined to comment on the decision.

Lula’s campaign claims that accounts and ads associated with Flávio Bolsonaro allegedly received artificially inflated visibility, with engagement metrics rivaling those of global celebrities. The two men are in a tight race for the presidency, after the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro received 47% of the vote to the incumbent president’s 45% in the first round on October 4.

Lula’s complaint also claims that there is a stark disparity in Meta’s artificial intelligence tools, with users unable to generate campaign images related to the 80-year-old president through WhatsApp’s “Meta AI” feature, but able to do so if they want to promote content in support of Flávio Bolsonaro.

Gean Ferreira and Evelyn Santos, both lawyers for the Lula campaign, said in a statement that Meta’s dissemination of content was selective against the outgoing president and favorable to Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“On the one hand, the contents of candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his supporters face delivery restrictions, without any justification or transparency,” the lawyers said. “On the other hand, profiles acting as political agents of the opposing camp (…) benefit from a disproportionate and artificial reach, garnering even more views than global celebrities.”

Lula’s campaign wants Brazil’s top electoral court to order an immediate end to content restrictions and pressure Meta to make up for the loss of traction by doubling its reach to repair the harm inflicted.

On October 11, as Lula voters began to complain about their use of Meta tools, the big tech company told the electoral court that it rejected accusations that it was biased in favor of Bolsonaro. The company admitted to experiencing technical issues affecting its accounts beyond Brazil. He also said he was acting in full compliance with Brazil’s electoral regulations and was committed to providing equal access to the platform for all political parties.