Brazil’s Lula accuses Meta of election interference

Brazil's presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva alleged on October 11 that technology conglomerate Meta interfered in the country's electoral process by blocking his social media content. The leftist leader is running for a fourth non-consecutive term in the October 25 runoff, facing off against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula's campaign alleged that Meta's platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, restricted the distribution of his content. They claimed that Meta prevented his Instagram feed posts from being promoted, interrupted the view counts of his official account, and removed his profile from Instagram's search function prior to the first round of voting.

Lula's team believes these actions are an attempt to favor Bolsonaro's candidacy. Meta's Brazil office dismissed the accusations as "simply false" and "not supported by the facts." The company stated that many of the technical issues mentioned did not specifically affect Brazil or certain accounts, and they comply with electoral regulations while maintaining fairness on their platforms.

Lula's campaign has filed a complaint with the electoral court over the alleged social media blocks.