Meta employees say Lula’s accounts restricted in Brazil election: Report

What the report says

Meta employees acknowledged in internal messages that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Instagram accounts were affected by restrictions during Brazil’s election, according to a report cited by Al Jazeera from the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S Paulo. The messages also reportedly said the platform recommended the profile of Lula’s challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, and his WhatsApp channel. Meta told Reuters that the technical problems mentioned in the report had already been made public and that the discussion was about how serious the issues were, not about political bias.

The reported communications came as Lula, the left-wing incumbent, prepares to face Bolsonaro, a right-wing challenger, in a presidential runoff set for October 25. The article says the first-round vote earlier in the month gave Bolsonaro a stronger-than-expected showing, helping shape the final contest.

The report also follows a Brazilian court order issued on Thursday that required Meta to take immediate steps to give both candidates equal treatment before the runoff. According to the article, Lula had complained that Meta’s algorithms and artificial intelligence tools were favoring Bolsonaro.

A judge in Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta not to limit political content distribution, restrict searches, or remove posts in a way that would create imbalance between the campaigns. The ruling also set a daily fine of 500,000 reais if the company does not comply. The dispute matters because it sits at the intersection of platform moderation, election fairness and political speech in one of Latin America’s largest democracies.