by Otávio Rosso

Sleeping Giants Brasil and the organization CTRL+Z sent new evidence to the Superior Electoral Court on Monday. The groups say it points to possible unequal treatment by Meta of the campaigns of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the Workers’ Party, and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party.

The groups argue that Instagram and WhatsApp tools keep showing results that would favor the Liberal Party candidate. They also say the tools link Lula to derogatory content. This continues despite an electoral court order that Meta ensure equal conditions for both candidates.

Journalist Mônica Bergamo broke the story today in Folha de S.Paulo. According to her report, the organizations filed a petition addressed to Superior Electoral Court Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze, who is overseeing the court caset. They asked him to order the alleged irregularities fixed within 24 hours. They also want Meta to explain how it ranks search results and produces answers with artificial intelligence. And they ask the court to enforce the daily fine of R$500,000 (about $99,000) it already set.

The new records involve searches for animated GIFs, the ordering of hashtags and answers from Meta AI, the artificial intelligence system built into WhatsApp. The organizations say the examples reinforce their suspicion that the platforms do not apply equivalent criteria to the two presidential campaigns.

Image searches put Flávio Bolsonaro in the spotlight

The petition describes a GIF search on WhatsApp for the word “brasil.” The first result was an image of Flávio Bolsonaro. It showed his ticket number and identified his running mate.

According to the records sent to the court, the same result appeared on three separate accounts. The groups use this to ask whether its top position comes from systematic ranking criteria.

A similar check on Instagram also showed images of the senator among the first results. Users who searched for “brasil” found three images of Flávio Bolsonaro in the top positions. The only mention of President Lula was his name in writing, with no photo.

The two organizations say the difference deserves an explanation. Search and recommendation tools can increase the exposure of certain candidates on social media. They are not claiming that they have proven bias in Meta, choosing instead to posit the question to the Superior Electoral Court.

Lula linked to derogatory content

Another set of examples ties Lula to negative terms in searches on Meta platforms.

On WhatsApp, a GIF search for the word “ladrão” (thief) returned a caricature of the president in a striped uniform, a reference to prison dress. Another result carried the message “Supporting the Workers’ Party is a mental illness.”

On Instagram, a search for the same word showed a GIF reading “Vote 13.” That is the Workers’ Party election number, tied to Lula’s candidacy.

For Sleeping Giants Brasil and CTRL+Z, these results point to an imbalance in how political references are shown to users. The imbalance stands out against the visibility of content favorable to Flávio Bolsonaro.

The petition also challenges how Instagram orders hashtags. A search for “lula” offered “#lulaladrão” (Lula thief) as the first suggestion, ahead of other terms about the president. A search for “bolsonaro” placed the critical hashtag “#bolsonaronuncamais” (Bolsonaro never again) among its last suggestions.

The groups cite the difference in position as another reason to investigate the relevance criteria the platform uses.

The issue is not only whether content for or against the candidates exists. It is mainly how automated systems organize that information and present it to the public.

Meta AI also questioned

The organizations included a test of Meta AI, the artificial intelligence tool offered to WhatsApp users. According to the petition, two people asked the system to pick a number between 1 and 25. They gave no instructions and made no reference to the election.

In one attempt, the AI answered 13. In the other, it answered 22. Those are the party ballot numbers of Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, respectively.

The groups question the coincidence. They ask for an explanation of the parameters the system uses to form its answers.

The episode alone does not allow a conclusion that the tool answered out of electoral preference. Still, the organizations list the test among the elements that, in their view, demand more transparency about how the company’s artificial intelligence features work.

Electoral court demands compliance and threatens to double fine

The new records arrive as the electoral court takes a harder line with Meta.

Justice Bellizze had already ordered the company to apply identical criteria to the campaigns of Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. He also ordered Meta to prove it was following the measures.

On Friday, the full court upheld the justice’s decision. It reinforced the company’s duty to ensure equal treatment of the candidates.

On Sunday, Bellizze again demanded action. He gave the company a new deadline of 24 hours to show it had met part of the court’s requirements.

The justice also warned that the daily fine, first set at R$500,000 (about $99,000), could rise to R$1 million (about $198,000) if noncompliance continues.

The new petition from Sleeping Giants Brasil and CTRL+Z aims to add to the case just as the court demands more detailed explanations from the company.

The groups want Meta to do more than fix the problems they identified. They also want it to disclose the criteria that decide the order of images, hashtag suggestions and answers produced by artificial intelligence.

Lula campaign has already gone to electoral court

The dispute began with complaints from Lula’s campaign about how Meta’s digital platforms work.

The president’s representatives pointed to limits on the circulation of content about his candidacy. They also cited differences in how the company’s tools behave compared with tools tied to his opponent.

The claims led the electoral court to demand measures to ensure equal treatment of the candidates.

Meta has denied deliberately favoring any candidate. It blamed the earlier problems on technical failures.

Folha de S.Paulo contacted the company about the new records filed Monday. Meta had not responded by the time of publication.

The lack of a specific response leaves open the explanations for the mechanisms behind the results the organizations found.

Groups call protest at Meta headquarters in São Paulo

Besides the legal action, Sleeping Giants Brasil and CTRL+Z planned a demonstration outside Meta’s headquarters in São Paulo at 5 p.m. Monday.

The event is called “Meta, Hands Off Our Election.” The organizations say it will be peaceful.

Participants plan to hand a notice to the company’s director in Brazil. They want action on the suspicions of unequal treatment of the candidacies.

The mobilization increases pressure on Meta on two fronts. In court, the groups seek correction of the alleged irregularities and sanctions. In public debate, they demand transparency about the algorithms used during the presidential race.

This article first appeared in Brasil 247, was translated with express consent from the editor-in-chief by Panamerican Dispatch, and can be read in its original Portuguese here.

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