Political election campaign on social media: Brazil imposes punishment on Meta

afp | The Brazilian judiciary has imposed a heavy fine on the US technology group Meta because, in its opinion, it did not comply with an order for equal treatment of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his rival Flávio Bolsonaro on its platforms during the presidential election campaign. On Tuesday, the Brazilian electoral court imposed a fine equivalent to around 1.2 million euros on the company, which includes Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.

However, the court did not find any interference in the election campaign in favor of the right-wing populist Flávio Bolsonaro, as Lula's election team had denounced. Lula's campaign team filed a complaint against Meta with the electoral court in October because of an alleged blocking of its content in the company's online services.

The court ordered Meta to treat both candidates equally and threatened a daily fine of $200,000 (around 180,000 euros) if they violated it. Meta rejected the allegations and spoke of technical problems. The US company later emphasized that it had implemented the measures required by the electoral court.

After his defeat in the first round, Lula's campaign team realigned the campaign and increasingly relied on online services. The head of state then narrowly defeated Flávio Bolsonaro in the runoff election and secured another term in office. The 45-year-old Bolsonaro is the son of right-wing extremist former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of an attempted coup.