Meta Accused of Ignoring Brazilian Court Order on Election Favoritism

New Evidence Submitted to Electoral Court

Sleeping Giants Brasil and CTRL+Z have submitted new evidence to the Superior Electoral Court in Brazil. The organizations allege that Meta's platforms, specifically Instagram and WhatsApp, continue to show results that favor Liberal Party candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and link Workers’ Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to derogatory content.

Alleged Non-Compliance with Court Order

This new evidence comes despite an existing electoral court order mandating Meta to ensure equal conditions for both candidates. The organizations have filed a petition asking Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze to order the alleged irregularities fixed within 24 hours and to compel Meta to explain its methods for ranking search results and generating AI responses.

Call for Enforcement of Fines

The petition also requests the court to enforce a daily fine of R$500,000 (approximately $99,000) that was previously set. This fine is intended to penalize Meta for its alleged non-compliance with the court's directive regarding electoral fairness on its platforms.

Specific Examples of Alleged Bias

The new records include examples such as GIF searches on WhatsApp for the word “brasil,” where the first result was an image of Flávio Bolsonaro. Similar results were observed on Instagram, with images of the senator appearing prominently in searches for “brasil,” while Lula was only mentioned by name without a photo. The organizations also cite examples linking Lula to negative terms in Meta searches.

Impact on Electoral Transparency

The groups argue that search and recommendation tools on social media can significantly influence candidate exposure. While not directly claiming proven bias, they are asking the Superior Electoral Court to investigate whether Meta applies equivalent criteria to both presidential campaigns, highlighting concerns about electoral transparency and fairness.