Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has escalated enforcement actions against Meta, doubling the company’s daily penalty and demanding proof of equal treatment for competing presidential candidates within 24 hours. The order came less than a week before a presidential run-off election scheduled for Sunday pitting incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against right-wing senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
The court increased the fine from 500,000 Brazilian reals to one million reals, roughly $100,000 to $200,000, citing the company’s failure to comply with previous orders regarding political content distribution. According to the court’s decision, the earlier penalty proved insufficient given the proximity to the electoral vote. The action was prompted by complaints from Lula’s campaign alleging that Meta’s platforms prevented his profile from receiving full promotional visibility on Instagram and in search results, while posts from his supporters faced disproportionate removal by content moderators.
Meta has consistently denied allegations of electoral bias, though it acknowledged that some of Lula’s campaign advertisements were temporarily removed due to technical errors. However, civil society organizations and digital rights monitors have documented what they characterize as suppression of left-leaning content alongside amplification of posts supporting Bolsonaro across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. A major newspaper reported reviewing internal Meta communications indicating employees were aware of inconsistent treatment between the two candidates’ social media presence.
The electoral context underscores the stakes, as Bolsonaro garnered 47 percent of votes in the first round held on October 4, compared to Lula’s 45 percent, necessitating a run-off since neither reached 50 percent. Pre-election surveys suggest the candidates remain closely matched. Over 100 civil society organizations, including Greenpeace International and Oxfam Brazil, have urged authorities to enforce regulations limiting Meta’s influence while calling on the company to increase transparency in content moderation decisions and address deepfakes and disinformation.
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