The campaign team of Brazilian President and re-election candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Saturday accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, of “interference” with alleged blocking of its content.
In recent days, the American technology giant “prevented the profile of President Lula from promoting publications from the feed on Instagram”, while a publication from his official account “suffered an interruption in reviewing views, which affected its reach”, she assured before the second round of October 25, where he will face senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022)
The team of the left-wing leader who is seeking a fourth term also claimed that before last Sunday’s first round, won by Mr. Bolsonaro (47% against 45%), Lula’s page and those of other left-wing leaders “suddenly disappeared from the Instagram search engine.”
“Technical problems”, according to Meta
The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) gave Meta 48 hours on Saturday to respond to these accusations. Meta is ordered to “make a report, profile by profile, of all the measures applied” to “Lula’s official accounts” and “to explain the anomalies in the video metrics,” the TSE said.
Meta attributed these episodes to technical problems, according to the statement. “The allegations are simply false and not based on any facts,” the company’s office in Brazil said in an email to AFP.
“Many of the technical issues mentioned did not exclusively affect Brazil or specific accounts,” Meta said, adding: “we respect electoral rules and are committed to ensuring fair conditions in the use of our platforms.”
An “attempt to interfere”, according to Lula
“The succession of technical problems that the company has not explained raises strong suspicions that Meta’s actions constitute an attempt to interfere in the Brazilian electoral process for the benefit of the candidacy of Flávio Bolsonaro,” the statement added.
Lula has already denounced attempts at electoral interference by United States President Donald Trump in favor of his rival, and his government is evaluating whether large technology companies, known as big tech, can act in this direction.
“We have no proof of this concrete and formal link,” admitted to AFP Éden Valadares, communications secretary of Lula’s workers’ party. However, he recalled that when Trump tried to “interfere in the decisions of the Brazilian Supreme Court”, he mentioned “the interests of so-called big tech”, which “constitutes more than proof of this shared interest”.
The campaign team added that it had filed a complaint with the electoral court against these alleged blockages.
After the first round, the octogenarian president, who does not use a cell phone, implemented a strategy focused on social media, where he began posting selfie videos.
