Lula Campaign Seeks to Bar Bolsonaro Amid Claims Meta Tilted the Election Field
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Brazil's electoral court is being dragged into a fight over whether Meta’s platforms unfairly advantaged Bolsonaro’s camp while Lula’s team says the tech giant suppressed pro-Lula content ahead of the runoff.
Brazil's top electoral court received a petition from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign seeking to disqualify right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and his running mate Alfredo Gaspar over alleged interference by social-media company Meta. The filing says Meta allegedly restricted Lula-aligned content while amplifying Bolsonaro’s campaign across platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, deepening concerns about the power of big tech to skew democratic contests.
In a counter-petition, Bolsonaro accused Lula of abusing political and economic power by mass-disseminating government posts on WhatsApp and asked for Lula’s disqualification, escalating the dispute into a mirror-image battle of accusations over electoral fairness and platform use.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of expression expressed concern about unequal access to Meta’s services during the election, citing reports of temporary interruptions to campaign accounts, differing audience engagement, and restrictions on Instagram posts. The rapporteur’s report warned that accounts linked to one side of the race appeared to be disproportionately curtailed, reinforcing fears that the online playing field was anything but equal.
Meta denied favouring any candidate and said it would comply with any Brazilian court order to treat all parties equally.
Lula is seeking a fourth term, while Bolsonaro, who led the first round on 4 October but fell short of the required 50% of valid votes, remains a contender for the runoff on Sunday. The petition also asks that Bolsonaro be barred from standing for election for eight years after the 2026 election.