Lula’s campaign to seek Flavio Bolsonaro’s disqualification over alleged Meta algorithm manipulation as Brazil’s electoral court gives Meta 24 hours to show equal treatment

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s campaign team plans to ask the country’s top electoral court on Tuesday to disqualify rival Flavio Bolsonaro over alleged election interference by Meta, a source told AFP. The petition alleges that Meta’s algorithms were manipulated to harm Lula’s chances of winning. The move was first reported Monday by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo; a court source said Meta and lawyers for both campaigns would meet at the Superior Electoral Court on Tuesday.

The court gave Meta 24 hours on Monday to demonstrate that it was complying with an order to treat the two campaigns equally, and threatened a daily fine of about $200,000 if it failed to do so. Lula’s campaign accused the company of suppressing his online content to boost Bolsonaro. It also cited inconsistencies in WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence tool, saying election content related to Lula was limited while Bolsonaro-related content remained untouched. Dozens of Lula supporters protested outside Meta’s offices in Sao Paulo on Monday.

Meta denied taking action to favor either side. On Tuesday, it said it had completed measures to comply with the court’s decision. The company had previously said some of Lula’s campaign ads were mistakenly deactivated because of technical errors.

Lula is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term and faces Flavio Bolsonaro in a tight runoff on Sunday. Lula trailed Bolsonaro, 47% to 45%, in the first round earlier this month. Flavio Bolsonaro is the son of jailed former leader Jair Bolsonaro.