The technology conglomerate Meta —owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp— denied this Tuesday that is interfering in Brazil’s presidential elections and attributed the problems reported by the president’s campaign to “technical incidents.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who aspires to re-election and will face Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the second round.
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“Meta does not take sides in this or any other election,” the company said in a statement in which it described accusations of favoring any candidate or political group as “false and unfounded.”
Mark Zuckerberg is betting on virtual reality. Photo:EFE / GOAL
The statement comes one day after the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) ordered Meta to guarantee equal treatment to both candidates until the second round, scheduled for October 25, under threat of a daily fine of 500,000 reais (about $93,000).
The decision by Judge Marco Aurélio Bellizze responded to a complaint from Lula’s campaign, which accuses the platform of repeatedly reducing the dissemination of its publications and favoring its adversary’s content.
Meta assured that its systems do not classify or distribute content based on political ideology and defended that its rules apply equally to all candidates.
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The company acknowledged, however, several recent failures. The first occurred on September 23, when Lula’s campaign advertising account was deactivated by mistake, for just over an hour, after an advertisement was identified as a possible attempt to impersonate a social program of the Brazilian Government.
Meta maintained that none of the rulings reflect deliberate political action and claimed to have presented a defense supported by technical data to the TSE.
Lula’s campaign announced that it will take its complaints to international organizations and electoral missions, among them the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union and the Mercosur Parliament.
Judge Bellizze noted that, for now, There are not sufficient elements to conclude that Meta has deliberately manipulated the distribution of content to benefit or harm any candidate.although he considered it necessary to establish guarantees to preserve equality in the electoral contest.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Photo:EFE
Meta affirms that he treats the two presidential candidates of Brazil equally
The technology giant reiterated that Their systems treat candidates competing in the second round of the presidential elections in Brazil equally.
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The multinational guaranteed that it complies with the 17 determinations imposed by the court to guarantee equality in the distribution of political content and the publication of electoral advertisements and attached a technical report with the supposed demonstration of said compliance.
The electoral authority demanded equal treatment after the two campaigns went to the electoral court to denounce that their political content is harmed by Meta’s platforms and accuse the company of favoring its rival.
Goal. Photo:John G. Mabanglo. EFE
In his response to the court, Meta said it has the necessary mechanisms to guarantee equality before the law determined by electoral legislation.
It stated that content restrictions made automatically by its systems They go through human review within a maximum period of two hours.
It also said that it adopted an authorization list for the publication of political advertisements to prevent third parties from contracting this type of propaganda.
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In its appeals to the court, Lula’s campaign stated that Meta “has repeatedly and systematically failed to deliver coalition publications” and denounced that the multinational’s artificial intelligence system does not allow the creation of content that could be used in the campaign.
According to those responsible for the head of state’s campaign, The company has selectively restricted the dissemination of publications linked to the president and related political sectors, in addition to imposing limitations on the advertising drive of their ads.
For its part, Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidacy also denounced that it is harmed by the platform and asked the court to defend equal conditions between both candidates.
Flavio Bolsonaro. Photo:EFE
In a first response sent to the court last Friday, Meta denied any interference in the Brazilian elections, but admitted that specific technical failures harmed the distribution of certain content from Lula’s campaign.
The right-wing senator was the most voted in the first round, with 47% of the votes compared to 45% for the progressive president.
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The polls indicate that he leads voting intentions for the second round next Sunday with a narrow margin, 51% against 49%, so both would technically be tied.
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