Lula's campaign accuses Meta of restricting its content ahead of Brazil's election as the Superior Electoral Court orders the company to respond.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's campaign accused Meta of interfering in the country's presidential election after alleging that the technology company restricted the reach of his content on its platforms.
Lula is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in the October 25 runoff against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who finished first in last Sunday's first round. Bolsonaro is the son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
In a statement, Lula's campaign said it had identified several instances involving Meta-owned Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. It claimed Meta had recently "prevented President Lula's profile from promoting Instagram feed posts," while a post from his official account "experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach."
The campaign also said that before the first-round vote, the Instagram profiles of Lula and other leftist leaders "suddenly disappeared from Instagram's search function."
"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," the campaign said.
Brazil electoral court orders Meta to respond, Meta says no foul play
Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered Meta on Saturday to respond within 48 hours to allegations that it reduced the reach of posts published by Lula's campaign and to explain the reported irregularities.
The court ordered the company to "report, profile by profile, all the measures applied" to "Lula's official accounts" and to "explain the anomalies in the metrics" of videos, according to the TSE. Meta's Brazil office rejected the allegations, calling them "simply false" and "not supported by the facts."
"Many of the technical issues mentioned did not affect only Brazil or specific accounts," Meta told AFP in an email, adding that "we comply with electoral regulations and are committed to a level playing field regarding the use of our platforms."
Lula's campaign has filed a complaint with the electoral court over the alleged restrictions on its social media content.
Brazil heads to presidential runoff as Bolsonaro narrowly leads Lula
Brazil's presidential election will go to a runoff on October 25 after neither Senator Flavio Bolsonaro nor President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva secured the majority required for an outright victory, Al Mayadeen's envoy in Brazil reported on October 5.
Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator and son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, finished ahead of Lula in Sunday's first round. With 99.3% of the votes counted, Bolsonaro had 47% against Lula's 45%, according to the envoy.
A candidate must secure more than 50% of valid votes to win the presidency in the first round. Nearly 160 million Brazilians were eligible to vote, while voters also elected governors in all states, 54 of the Senate's 81 members and all 513 members of the lower house.
The vote gap shifted as counting progressed. Early results showed Bolsonaro ahead more strongly as southern states that support him reported their votes faster, while counting moved more slowly in Lula's northeastern stronghold, according to Reuters.
With about 65% of polling stations counted, Brazil's electoral court showed Bolsonaro at 49.58% and Lula at 42.25%. With nearly 85% of votes reported, Reuters recorded Bolsonaro at 48.47% and Lula at 43.49%. As more than 98% of votes were counted, NPR put Bolsonaro above 47% and Lula at 44%, before the gap narrowed to about two percentage points in the envoy's count at 99.3%.
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