Brazil fines Meta due to unequal treatment between Lula and Bolsonaro during the elections

On Tuesday, the Brazilian judiciary imposed a fine on the “Meta” group. For not adhering to the principle of equal treatment on its platforms between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his competitor Flavio Bolsonaro during the presidential elections.

Lula surprised everyone by defeating Bolsonaro in the second round of the elections held on October 25, at the end of an election campaign during which he denounced “interference” on the part of the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. With the aim of supporting his right-wing opponent, who had the support of Donald Trump.

The Supreme Electoral Court, unanimously among its members, imposed a fine of 7.5 million riyals (about 1.3 million dollars) on the American company, without considering the presence of “an intentional act aimed at tampering with the electoral process” as established, according to Judge Marco Aurelio Bellizzi.

After winning the election, the leftist president pledged to strengthen regulation of social media networks in Brazil.

Lula's electoral campaign had accused the "Meta" group of interfering in the elections, after blocking his content on its platforms, which the platform denied, noting that some ads related to the campaign were blocked due to technical errors that were not limited to Brazil.

Meta's lawyer, Patricia Marta Martins, said before the Supreme Electoral Court that the allegations of interference were "false and baseless", and that the company had "fully complied" with the judicial requirements.

During the presidential campaign, the Supreme Electoral Court ordered Meta to take measures to ensure equal dissemination of content in favor of the two candidates.

The court's seven judges upheld the opinion of Judge Bellizzi, who concluded that the company had missed deadlines and lacked transparency by providing incomplete information to the Supreme Electoral Court.