Brazil court orders Meta to treat Lula, Bolsonaro equally

Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta on Thursday to treat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s runoff campaigns equally on its platforms, threatening a fine of 500,000 reais a day if it does not comply.

The ruling comes 10 days before the Oct. 25 runoff in a race that is close: Bolsonaro took about 47 per cent of the vote to Lula’s 45 per cent in the first round on Oct. 4, as we reported. The fine is about US$98,000 a day.

Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze of the Superior Electoral Court issued the preliminary order, The Associated Press reported. It bars Meta from reducing the distribution of political content, restricting searches or removing posts in ways that favour either candidate, and requires its AI tool to apply “identical criteria” to both candidacies.

Lula’s campaign filed the complaint on Oct. 14. It accused Meta of biased algorithms and AI restrictions that favour Bolsonaro, alleging “unjustified reductions in reach” for Lula’s campaign material and organic posts, the AP said. It also said Meta had not followed a compliance plan it submitted to the court.

Campaign lawyers Gean Ferreira and Evelyn Santos said Lula’s content faces delivery restrictions “without any justification or transparency,” while profiles backing Bolsonaro gain “a disproportionate and artificial reach.” The campaign also said users could not generate Lula campaign images through Meta AI on WhatsApp but could do so for pro-Bolsonaro content, according to the AP.

Meta declined to comment on the ruling, the AP said. On Oct. 11 it told the court it rejects claims that its platforms favour Bolsonaro, acknowledged technical glitches that also affect accounts outside Brazil, and said it complies with Brazil’s electoral rules.

The Rio Times, citing Brazilian outlets Agência Brasil and O Tempo, reported further details of the order that the AP did not include. Meta has 24 hours to disclose the criteria Meta AI uses for political requests, it may not disable a candidate’s ad account without human review, and any automated restriction must be reviewed within two hours and reported to the court. Canada News Media has not independently confirmed those terms.

The same report said Bellizze found that the tool screening prompts had failed but saw no evidence the failure was deliberate or systematic. It said Meta has temporarily stopped recommending candidates and generating images of them. The order is preliminary, and it is not yet known whether Meta will appeal or meet the deadlines.

Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. Lula is 80. The campaign has already produced other late moves, including a 75-1 Senate vote for a 40-hour work week, which we covered, and a Quaest poll that put Bolsonaro two points ahead, also reported here.

Brazil votes in the runoff on Oct. 25. Meta’s reply to the court, and any appeal, are the next developments to watch.

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Via The Associated Press (Mauricio Savarese, Sao Paulo, Oct. 15, 2026) and The Rio Times. This story is developing.