The company unilaterally extended the 72-hour deadline it had been given to five days, cited “technical difficulties”, submitted untranslated reports in English and provided out-of-context documents The 24-hour deadline given by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court to Meta to show that its algorithms and artificial intelligence treat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro equally expires on Tuesday, five days before the runoff. If the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp fails to show compliance, the daily fine will double from 500,000 to one million reais.
Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze issued the order on Sunday, as the candidates held their first debate, after deeming unsatisfactory Meta’s response to an earlier ruling, which the full court upheld unanimously on Friday. According to the judge, the company unilaterally extended the 72-hour deadline it had been given to five days, cited “technical difficulties”, submitted untranslated reports in English and provided out-of-context documents. He now requires detailed reports in Portuguese and that, by Wednesday at the latest, Meta restore advertising paid for by Lula’s campaign that was not delivered, or state that none is pending.
The order, in force until the October 25 vote, bars Meta from unequally reducing the reach of candidates’ posts, limiting recommendations or restricting search results in favour of either. It stems from a complaint by Lula’s campaign, which says the reach of his profiles was reduced and that Meta’s artificial intelligence tool refused to generate images supporting the president while doing so for his rival. Bolsonaro’s campaign has also gone to the court, saying Meta allowed negative ads against the senator and the circulation of AI-made Lula campaign material without the mandatory label. The judge admitted it to the case.
Meta regretted the ruling and said it “complies with Brazilian electoral rules”. “We will share with the court additional information on technical aspects that may not have been fully considered in its decision,” a spokeswoman said. The company had warned that some requirements, such as prior human review of ads, would force it to suspend all political advertising.
Polls show a statistical tie between the two candidates, who will debate again on Friday on TV Globo.