Meta Employees Say Lula’s Accounts Were Restricted During Brazil Election

Internal messages reported by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo say Meta employees acknowledged that restrictions negatively affected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Instagram accounts during the election campaign. The messages also reportedly said the platform recommended the profile of Lula’s challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, and his WhatsApp channel. Meta told Reuters that the technical issues were already public and that the conversations concerned their severity, denying political favoritism. On Thursday, a judge on Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta to ensure equal treatment of the two candidates before the October 25 presidential runoff.