Brazil's electoral court gives Meta 48 hours over Lula campaign's reach claims, reports say

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has given Meta 48 hours to clarify whether it reduced the reach of posts by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign, according to France 24 and The Hindu. France 24 credits its report to AFP. The Hindu's report uses near-identical wording and quotes Meta's email to AFP, but carries no agency credit in the version reviewed. Vocemundi has not independently verified the claims.

The court acted on Saturday, according to the reports. According to the TSE, it ordered Meta to "report, profile by profile, all the measures applied" to Lula's official accounts. It also told the company to "explain the anomalies in the metrics" of his videos.

Lula's campaign has filed a complaint with the electoral court over the alleged restrictions, the reports say. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, denies the allegations.

Lula, the leftist incumbent, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term. He faces Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, in a run-off on 25 October. Flavio Bolsonaro finished first in the first round, which The Hindu dates to Sunday, 4 October.

After the first round, Lula launched a social media push, according to the reports. It includes videos of him addressing his online followers. The reports note that Lula does not use a mobile phone.

What is disputed

The central question is whether Meta restricted the reach of Lula's content in order to influence the election. The campaign says it did. Meta rejects this.

What each side says

In a statement, Lula's campaign said Meta "prevented President Lula's profile from promoting Instagram feed posts", according to France 24. It said a post from his official account "experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach". It also said that before the first round, the profiles of Lula and other leftist leaders "suddenly disappeared from Instagram's search function". The campaign said: "The series of technical issues... raises strong suspicions that Meta's actions constitute an attempt to interfere in the Brazilian electoral process to the benefit of Flavio Bolsonaro's candidacy."

Meta's Brazil office called the charges "simply false" and "not supported by the facts", according to France 24. In an email to AFP, Meta said: "Many of the technical issues mentioned did not affect only Brazil or specific accounts." It added: "We comply with electoral regulations and are committed to a level playing field regarding the use of our platforms."

What the reports do not include

The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not include any independent technical check of the alleged restrictions. They do not include Meta's formal reply to the TSE or any court ruling. They do not name the other leftist leaders allegedly affected, or identify the global technical issues Meta cited. They do not include a response from Flavio Bolsonaro's campaign. The Hindu gives inconsistent dates for the campaign's accusation and the court's order, so the exact date of the accusation is unclear.

Analysis

The dispute centres on platform metrics that outside observers cannot easily check, which makes the TSE's request for account-by-account data significant. If Meta's reply shows the issues were global technical faults, the campaign's suspicions may lose weight. If the data shows measures specific to Lula's accounts, the court could face pressure to act before the 25 October run-off. A third outcome is that the data remains inconclusive. With the available reporting closely matching AFP's account, and no independent technical review described, firm conclusions about intent or electoral impact are not supported by the available evidence.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.