SÃO PAULO — A judge of Brazil’s top electoral court ruled Thursday that Meta must adopt measures to immediately secure equal treatment of the two presidential candidates ahead of an Oct. 25 runoff.
The ruling comes shortly after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running against Flávio Bolsonaro, filed a complaint that accused the tech company that owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favor opposition candidate Bolsonaro ahead of the election.
Lula’s campaign argues that accounts and advertisements associated with Flávio Bolsonaro have reportedly received artificially inflated visibility, with engagement metrics rivaling those of global celebrities. The two are in a close race for the presidency, after the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro garnered 47% of the vote against 45% for the incumbent in the first round on Oct. 4.
All the while, none of you two favors banning Meta… 🤔
Last time that we tried we got Trump tariffs, a whole disinformation campaign about authoritarian Brazilian regime spawn and Meta bribed half of the senate.
Also cutting off whatsapp could backfire spectacularly, especially on less resourceful population. I’m all for it, but more organisedly than an immediate ban.
wow I had no idea that had been done before
i mean it has literally played against you, you need to get something from them first. i would first rob facebook and then i’d ban them from the country.
I reckon Meta’s Brazil office isn’t much more than a desk and an underpaid employee. Not sure what would be there to rob.