Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's (R) campaign has accused Meta of suppressing his social media posts ahead of a runoff election vote. (AFP Photo)
The campaign of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused tech giant Meta of election interference after his social media content was allegedly blocked on the company’s platforms.
The leftist leader is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in the Oct. 25 runoff, where he will face Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro.
In a statement, Lula’s campaign reported instances where platforms owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, allegedly restricted the distribution of his content.
The campaign claimed that in recent days, Meta “prevented President Lula’s profile from promoting Instagram feed posts,” while a post from his official account “experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach.”
It also said that prior to Oct. 4’s first round of voting, in which Flavio Bolsonaro finished first, 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 added.
Meta’s Brazil office denied the charges, calling them “simply false” and “not supported by the facts.”
“Many of the technical issues mentioned did not affect only Brazil or specific accounts,” Meta told AFP in an email.
