Brazilian President Lula da Silva defeated the Bolsonaro camp by more than four million votes in a runoff marked by alleged irregularities involving major social media platforms. The outcome showed that voters can overcome the influence of technology companies, while renewing concerns about their role in democratic elections across Latin America.
The Workers’ Party faced several reported problems during the campaign, particularly on Meta’s services. The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, suspended Lula’s Instagram advertising account for 48 hours. The campaign said the interruption prevented its messages from reaching at least 1.3 million potential voters. An investigation by the NGO NetLab also found that Lula’s campaign was charged between 33% and 43% more than its rival, according to the source report.
The report also cited an imbalance in online engagement. Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly received nearly three times as many interactions per post as Lula, despite having 17.2% fewer followers. Investigations by Ctrl+Z and Article 19 found that Bolsonaro-aligned influencer Nikolas Ferreira drew exceptionally high view counts compared with global celebrities who had between 12 and 17 times more followers. Some of his videos reportedly surpassed 160 million views, prompting questions about how recommendation systems shaped political content during the campaign.
Meta attributed the Instagram issues to technical errors. The company reportedly said its candidate-search feature prioritised names of at least five characters, while Lula’s name has four. It also said a system intended to prevent political content generated with artificial intelligence had difficulty identifying “Flavio,” a common name. The report noted that messages from Meta employees leaked to Brazilian media appeared to indicate the company knew its actions were causing political harm.
Campaign supporters responded with viral online initiatives, including a “break the algorithm” challenge, while Workers’ Party deputy and influencer Andre Janones used popular platform trends to boost the campaign’s reach. His WhatsApp channel, “The Army of Lula,” had more than 10 million followers, according to the report.
After his victory, Lula described the large platforms’ role in the election as “interference” and called for regulation. The Workers’ Party argued that the alleged unequal treatment reflected Meta’s political alignment with the Trump administration and opposition to Lula’s proposed measures on digital rights and misinformation. The report presents those claims as the party’s interpretation of the platform’s conduct.
Sources: El País Internacional.