Brazil presidential election dogged by alleged bias by Meta AI tools
Supporters of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have accused Meta of interfering in Brazil’s election by making it easier to generate campaign content promoting his rival, Flávio Bolsonaro
Brazil's presidential election, set for October 25, is facing allegations of bias from Meta AI tools used by both candidates. Incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a left-wing leader, claims Meta favored challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate. Lula's campaign accuses Meta of suspending his advertising account, suppressing his posts, and blocking AI-generated content, which allegedly favored Bolsonaro.
Meta denies these allegations, stating that Lula's account was suspended due to a mistake and that their systems do not block prompts for Bolsonaro's name. The electoral prosecutors in Brazil have also raised concerns over Meta's compliance with court orders, while UN human rights experts express worry about possible unequal treatment of the two campaigns.
Meta asserts that the accusations are false and unfounded, explaining that their systems blocked prompts containing "Lula" and "Bolsonaro" but not the more common names "Luiz" and "Flávio". However, Lula's campaign remains unconvinced, citing screenshots showing Meta AI assigning Bolsonaro's electoral number to generic politicians and translating Bolsonaro's slogan as "Flávio future president".
The use of AI in politics is a growing concern, with fact-checking organization Lupa identifying over 900 pieces of AI-generated or manipulated election content in Brazil ahead of the first round.
Written by urgent.news from New Scientist's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
