Meta Employees Said Lula's Accounts Were Hindered During Brazil Election, Folha Reports

3-line summary

• Meta employees acknowledged in internal messages that President Lula's Instagram account was hindered by restrictions during Brazil's election period, Folha de S.Paulo reported; the same messages reportedly acknowledged the platform recommended opposition candidate Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's profile and WhatsApp channel.
• Context: Brazil's presidential runoff is set for October 25 between Lula and Bolsonaro, after Bolsonaro performed better than expected in the first round. Lula's camp has accused Meta of manipulating social media during the election and plans to file a complaint with the Organization of American States (OAS); his party alleged some posts lacked share buttons, had reduced reach, had reactions and shares blocked on Stories, and had audio that was muted or sped up. A judge on Brazil's top electoral court ordered Meta not to unjustifiably restrict the political-content reach of either candidate through the end of the runoff campaign, and required Meta's AI chatbot to remain neutral when generating election-related content.
• Meta said the technical issues cited in the report were already publicly disclosed, and that the internal conversation concerned the severity of the issues rather than political interference; the company stated, 'Any suggestion that Meta favors one side is false.'

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