The campaign of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused tech giant Meta of election interference on Saturday, saying the company's platforms blocked and throttled his social media content just two weeks before the country's presidential runoff on October 25.

Lula is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who finished first in the first round of voting last Sunday. In a formal statement, Lula's campaign said Meta-owned platforms — Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram — had "restricted the distribution" of his content in a pattern it called deeply suspicious.

What the campaign alleges

The campaign listed three specific incidents, reported by Malay Mail and The Sun citing AFP:

  • Meta "prevented President Lula's profile from promoting Instagram feed posts" in recent days.
  • A post from his official account "experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach".
  • Ahead of last Sunday's first-round vote, "the profiles of Lula and other leftist leaders suddenly disappeared from Instagram's search function".

"The series of technical issues… raises strong suspicions that Meta's actions constitute an attempt to interfere in the Brazilian electoral process to the benefit of Flavio Bolsonaro's candidacy," the statement said. The campaign has filed a complaint with the electoral court.

Court gives Meta 48 hours

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) responded swiftly on Saturday, giving Meta 48 hours to clarify whether it reduced the reach of Lula's campaign posts and to explain the reported irregularities. The court ordered the company to "report, profile by profile, all the measures applied" to Lula's official accounts and to "explain the anomalies in the metrics" of the videos in question.

The order puts one of the world's largest platforms under formal judicial scrutiny during the most sensitive stretch of Brazil's election cycle — a notable escalation in a country where the electoral court has historically policed campaign conduct on social media aggressively.

Meta denies the charges

Meta's Brazil office rejected the accusation outright, calling it "simply false" and "not supported by the facts". In an email to AFP, the company said: "Many of the technical issues mentioned did not affect only Brazil or specific accounts. We comply with electoral regulations and are committed to a level playing field regarding the use of our platforms."

That framing — glitches as global technical incidents rather than targeted suppression — will now have to be defended before the TSE, with data: the court's order demands per-profile reporting on every measure applied to Lula's accounts.

A runoff fought online

The clash lands in a campaign where the digital battlefield may decide the outcome. Lula, who famously does not use a mobile phone, launched an aggressive social media push after the first round, posting videos in which he addresses online followers directly — a late bid to reach the younger, highly connected voters who favoured Bolsonaro in round one.

Brazil votes in the second round on October 25. Chronicle has covered this election from the start: the first-round results that sent Flavio Bolsonaro into the runoff as frontrunner, Lula's campaign for a historic fourth term, and Meta's recent ad crackdown across seven markets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Lula's campaign accuse Meta of?

His campaign said Meta's platforms blocked his Instagram feed promotions, interrupted view counts on his official posts, and removed his and other leftist leaders' profiles from Instagram search ahead of the first-round vote.

What has Brazil's electoral court ordered?

The Superior Electoral Court gave Meta 48 hours to report, profile by profile, every measure applied to Lula's official accounts and to explain the anomalies in the video metrics.

How did Meta respond?

Meta's Brazil office called the charges "simply false" and "not supported by the facts", saying the technical issues were not limited to Brazil or specific accounts.

When is Brazil's presidential runoff?

The second round between Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro takes place on October 25, 2026.