Lula and Bolsonaro seek to have their candidacies disqualified in Brazil over allegations of Social Media manipulation
The two will face off on Sunday following Bolsonaro's victory in the first round by a margin of 47% to 45% of the vote.
The Brazilian Flávio Bolsonaro asked the electoral court on Tuesday to disqualify his rival, President Lula, for improper campaigning on WhatsApp; Lula plans to do the same against the senator over alleged interference by Meta in the runoff election.
The two will face off on Sunday following Bolsonaro's victory in the first round by a margin of 47% to 45% of the vote.
The leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is nearly 81 years old, is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term and is in a virtual tie in the polls against his 45-year-old rival.
Bolsonaro's appeal to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), reviewed by AFP, cites "abuse of power" by Lula in the alleged mass dissemination of government actions during the election period via a government WhatsApp account owned by Meta.
For its part, Lula's campaign will file an appeal with the TSE alleging "algorithmic manipulation" by the U.S. tech giant, requesting the revocation of Bolsonaro's candidacy, a source from Lula's campaign told AFP, confirming press reports.
Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is the target of allegations by Lula that it allegedly disadvantaged him on its platforms compared to the son of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), ahead of Sunday's runoff election.
Although the appeal to the TSE was to be filed on Tuesday, according to another source from Lula's team, it was ultimately postponed until Wednesday, campaign coordinator Senator Camilo Santana told reporters.
Although Meta denies the accusations, it has admitted to errors such as the deactivation of Lula's campaign ads, which it attributes to "technical issues" that reportedly affected more than just Brazil.
At the request of Meta, the company and attorneys from both campaigns met on Tuesday before the TSE, which heard from the parties regarding compliance with its order requiring the "big tech" company to ensure balance between the two candidates.
"Transparency and equality among the candidates is what we seek to safeguard," stated Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze after presiding over the meeting, as quoted in a TSE press release.
"Recurring rulings"
Meta asserted on Tuesday that it complied with the TSE's orders to ensure equal distribution of content and election ads for both campaigns.
On Monday, the electoral authority had given Meta 24 hours to demonstrate that it had taken action, after determining that it had not implemented the measures already demanded last week.
Otherwise, the TSE imposed a daily fine of approximately $200,000 on Meta.
Lula's campaign complained, among other issues, about restricted reach of its content on Instagram and WhatsApp and that Meta's AI tool refused to generate its election content but did so for Bolsonaro's.
Among the measures adopted, Meta stated that only candidates and parties registered with the electoral authority may now advertise on its platforms.
Meta's Content Advisory Board, an independent oversight body based in London, stated on Tuesday that it had identified "recurring failures" related to content about the presidential election in Brazil.
The campaign of Bolsonaro also denounced an alleged "negative propaganda offensive" launched by his opponent "with the approval" of Meta.
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