The key facts

  • Meta introduced mandatory human review of ad account restrictions within two hours until the runoff on October 25
  • Of 1,204 posts with AI content, 720 were removed or blocked for violating labeling rules
  • Meta asked the court not to impose fines and requested an urgent meeting with the TSE

Response to the Workers' Party complaint

On Tuesday, Meta denied favoring any of the candidates in the upcoming runoff of Brazil's presidential election and informed the electoral court that it had introduced mandatory human review of automatic restrictions on campaign ad accounts, Anadolu reports citing the Brazilian outlet UOL. The company's response came after a complaint by Lula's Workers' Party (PT), which accused Meta of restricting content from his campaign while simultaneously supporting Flavio Bolsonaro.

Measures ahead of the runoff

According to Meta, restrictions on campaign ad accounts will undergo mandatory human review within two hours until the runoff on Sunday, October 25. The company denies bias and asked the court not to impose fines, stating that it had complied with the directives in good faith. The dispute is unfolding against the backdrop of measures by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) aimed at ensuring equal treatment of candidates; the court also demanded that Meta adjust its AI tools after concerns about their ability to generate election-related content about candidates.

Moderation data and technical limitations

Meta reported that it reviewed 1,204 posts flagged as AI-generated: 720 were removed or blocked for violating electoral content labeling rules, 270 were correctly labeled, and 214 did not concern the elections. The company also introduced a 'whitelist' restricting paid political advertising in Brazil to candidates, parties, coalitions and federations registered with the TSE. Meta explained that technical limitations of Instagram forced it to disable recommendations for entire co-authored posts rather than only for a candidate's profile, and requested an urgent meeting with the TSE to discuss remaining technical issues before the runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro.