Meta employees acknowledged in internal communication that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s accounts were affected by restrictions during the Brazilian elections, Reuters, citing Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, reported on Friday.
The messages also acknowledged that the platform recommended the profile of challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, as well as his WhatsApp channel, according to the report.
The development followed a ruling by Brazil's top electoral court on Thursday, which was reported by the Associated Press. The order directed Meta to adopt measures to secure equal treatment of the two presidential candidates ahead of an October 25 runoff after Lula filed a complaint that accused the tech company of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favour opposition candidate Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of the election.
Brazilian judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze, in his ruling, stated that Meta could not reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between the competing political candidates. He had also directed the company to ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both politicians.
AP reported that the Lula campaign's legal filing argued Meta had subjected Lula's campaign materials and organic posts to “unjustified reductions in reach.” It also said Meta has not complied with a plan submitted to the electoral court to address these issues.
Lula’s presidential campaign alleged that accounts and advertisements associated with Flávio Bolsonaro received artificially inflated visibility, with engagement metrics rivalling global celebrities.
They also claimed a stark disparity in their ability to use Meta's artificial intelligence tools, with users failing to generate campaign images related to the 80-year-old president with WhatsApp's “Meta AI” feature but were able to do so if they wanted to promote content in support of Flávio Bolsonaro.
(With inputs from Agencies)