Internal communications reviewed by Brazilian media reveal that Meta employees purportedly acknowledged the negative impact of algorithmic restrictions on the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during a tense electoral period. According to the Sao Paulo-based daily Folha de S Paulo, the leaked messages also indicate that the platform actively promoted the profile and WhatsApp channel of Lula's right-wing challenger, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.

In response to mounting public scrutiny, the Meta regime informed Reuters that the technical glitches cited in the reports were supposedly public knowledge and that the referenced internal chats related strictly to issue severity rather than deliberate political interference. The tech giant's spokespersons claimed that any suggestion of favoritism is entirely false, though critics remain deeply skeptical of such self-serving assertions.

This damaging disclosure followed hot on the heels of a Brazilian court ruling ordering Meta to immediately implement measures ensuring equitable treatment for both presidential candidates ahead of the runoff. Justice Marco Aurelio Bellizze of Brazil's superior electoral court explicitly ruled that the corporation is barred from suppressing political content, restricting search visibility, or manipulating distribution to favor either Lula or Bolsonaro. The judicial order carries a hefty penalty of 500,000 reais ($98,700) per day for non-compliance.

Representatives of Lula's political coalition previously denounced systemic digital obstruction, pointing out that several of the incumbent's posts appeared without share buttons and suffered from severely suppressed reach. Furthermore, vital options for audience reactions, accelerated playback, and audio integration were allegedly missing, fueling ongoing concerns over corporate bias in national elections.

Source: www.aljazeera.com