BRAZIL COURT ORDERS META TO SHOW EQUAL TREATMENT OF CANDIDATES

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court gave Meta 24 hours on Monday to show that it treats election content for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro equally on its platforms. The court said Meta had failed to demonstrate compliance with an earlier order and raised a potential daily fine from 500,000 to one million Brazilian reals. Lula’s campaign alleges that Meta has restricted his online content ahead of Sunday’s presidential run-off. Meta denies taking action to favour either candidate.

Lula’s campaign says Instagram limited promotion of his profile and its visibility in searches. It also alleges that moderators removed posts by his supporters disproportionately while allowing content that promoted Bolsonaro or questioned election integrity. The campaign has raised concerns about how WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence tool handles election content about the two candidates. Meta says technical errors temporarily deactivated some of Lula’s campaign adverts and that the errors were not confined to Brazil. The court had ordered Meta on Thursday to apply the same rules to both candidates through the run-off.

A judge wrote in Monday’s order: “The continued noncompliance, just a few days before the run-off election, demonstrates that the fine imposed was insufficient.” The previous potential fine was 500,000 reals a day, equivalent to about $100,000; the new amount is about $200,000. Civil society groups and digital rights monitors have backed allegations that Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms restricted Lula’s content while promoting Bolsonaro’s. Brazilians are due to vote in the final round on 25 October.