Brazil's top electoral court orders Meta to ensure equal AI treatment of presidential candidates

A judge of Brazil's top electoral court ruled on Thursday that Meta must adopt measures to immediately secure equal treatment of the two presidential candidates ahead of the Oct. 25 runoff. Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze ruled that Meta cannot reduce distribution of political content, restrict searches or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, and must ensure its artificial intelligence tool applies identical criteria to both candidacies. The company faces a fine of 500,000 reais ($98,000) per day if it fails to comply.

The ruling comes after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva filed a complaint accusing Meta of using biased algorithms and AI restrictions to favor his opponent. Lula's campaign said its materials and organic posts were subjected to "unjustified reductions in reach," while accounts and advertisements linked to Bolsonaro received artificially inflated visibility. The complaint also noted a disparity in Meta's AI tools, with users unable to generate campaign images of Lula via WhatsApp's "Meta AI" feature but able to generate content supporting Bolsonaro.

Meta had previously told the court on Oct. 11 that it rejects accusations of bias, attributing issues to technical glitches affecting accounts beyond Brazil, and said it complies with Brazil's electoral regulations. Meta declined to comment on the ruling.