Brazil’s electoral court gives Meta 24 hours to prove equal treatment for Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro or face doubled daily fines ahead of the runoff election.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s top electoral court on Monday gave US social media giant Meta 24 hours to prove it is treating President Luiz Inacia Lula da Silva and his right-wing opponent Flavio Bolsonaro equally.
The order came after Lula’s campaign alleged that Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, is suppressing his online content in order to boost Bolsonaro ahead of Sunday’s decisive runoff election.
Meta has denied taking any actions to favor one side in the election, but previously said that some of Lula’s campaign ads had been mistakenly deactivated due to technical errors not isolated to Brazil.
Lula’s campaign has also alleged inconsistencies on WhatsApp’s artificial intelligence tool, saying Lula-related election content had been limited but not for Bolsonaro.
On Thursday, a judge from the Superior Electoral Court ordered Meta to ensure the same rules were applied to both candidates through the runoff election, among other directives, with a potential daily fine of 500,000 Reals ($100,000) for noncompliance.
The ruling on Monday said that Meta had failed to demonstrate compliance with the order and increased the penalty to one million Reals ($200,000) per day, according to a court document seen by AFP.
“The continued noncompliance, just a few days before the runoff election, demonstrates that the fine imposed was insufficient,” it said.
Earlier this month, 45-year-old Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, secured a first-round lead over Lula, who turns 81 next week, and polls predict a close battle for the runoff on October 25.