Meta staff acknowledged restrictions on Lula’s Instagram accounts, Folha reports

Meta employees acknowledged restrictions affecting Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Instagram accounts during the country’s election, Folha de S.Paulo reported on October 16, citing internal messages it reviewed. The report comes before Lula’s October 25 presidential runoff against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, when the candidates’ reach on Meta’s platforms is under scrutiny.

The messages also described recommendations of Bolsonaro’s profile and WhatsApp channel, according to accounts of Folha’s report. Folha’s account identifies problems with how the platforms treated the candidates; the reported messages do not establish why the restrictions occurred or how many voters they affected.

Meta’s response to the reported Instagram restrictions

Lula’s party said some posts appeared without a share button and had reduced reach. It also described problems with stories, including unavailable reactions and sharing, missing audio or playback at accelerated speed. Those are the campaign’s accounts of the visible effects; the precise cause of each problem has not been established.

Electoral court order ahead of the October 25 runoff

On October 15, a judge at Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta to avoid measures that unjustifiably limit the reach of political content from either candidate through the end of the runoff campaign. The order also requires the company to apply equal criteria when its Meta AI chatbot generates election-related content. Al Jazeera reported that noncompliance could draw a fine of 500,000 reais a day.

The order followed a complaint from Lula alleging that biased algorithms and AI restrictions favored Bolsonaro. The complaint is an allegation; the order sets rules for the remainder of the campaign. With the runoff scheduled for October 25, the immediate question for both candidates is whether their political content receives equal treatment on Meta’s services during the days left to campaign.