Meta, owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, is the target of at least eleven cases in the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that deal with this year's presidential elections, according to a survey carried out by g1.
Most of the actions against Meta are authored by the team of President Lula (PT), re-elected for a fourth term. Six were filed by the Brasil Pronto para Mais Coalition, formed by PT, Psol, PDT, PcdoB, PV, PSB and Rede.
An action came from the Brazilian Federation of Hope (PT, PCdoB and PV), started even before the pre-campaign. The topics range from allegations of algorithmic interference in elections to the permissibility of false content circulating.
Two other actions came from the legal team of senator and then presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). Both deal with “Lula's Army”, a WhatsApp channel created by federal deputy André Janones (Rede-MG) in support of the PT member's re-election.
In a note sent to g1 regarding being the target of the lawsuits, the company stated: "Meta complies with Brazilian electoral legislation. We will continue to present the facts and defend ourselves against false allegations in the ongoing processes."
In Tuesday's session (10) at the TSE, Meta was fined R$7.5 million during the analysis of one of these processes.
The specific case is a representation made by Lula's campaign, which alleged selective restrictions in the distribution of content, violation of the parity of weapons between candidates and non-compliance with the obligations imposed by electoral legislation.
As an example, Lula's lawyers cited a video published by the president on October 7 that had more likes than views, an “anomaly that could only be explained by the suppression of the delivery”.
In the opinion of the TSE ministers, Meta did not fully comply with the Court's determination to guarantee equality in the presidential dispute. The panel also pointed out that the company presented information to the court in a dispersed manner, in foreign and specialized language, which hindered the verification of the technical difficulties cited by Meta to justify the failures.
The company, in turn, claims that all the Court's orders were duly complied with, that no political direction was indicated in the process and that only technical failures occurred, which were briefly corrected and duly explained.
"The allegations that Meta interfered or favored on behalf of any candidate or political group are false. Meta will continue to comply with Brazilian legislation, correcting errors when they exist and guaranteeing equality across all political spectrums," said company lawyer Patrícia Martins.
This is the only case against the company that has been judged in a physical plenary session to date. Most of the other processes received only preliminary decisions from the rapporteurs and eventual responses from the ministers. Two others were analyzed in a virtual plenary (read more below).
There is another lawsuit by Lula's legal team against Meta that deals with “algorithmic selectivity” in the reach of publications from supporting profiles. The piece also cites the restriction of promotion by the PT member's official profile on social media between the 9th and 10th of October and the rejection of Meta's AI in creating images for Lula's campaign.
This action is a civil petition, filed on October 14, and asked the president of the TSE, minister Kassio Nunes Marques, to take administrative measures due to non-compliance with the compliance plan established with the Court.
In response, the judge, on October 23, gave the company 24 hours to explain the Meta AI criteria and describe the routine for detecting, labeling and restricting synthetic political-electoral content produced using its own and third-party artificial intelligence. The last movement in this process is the receipt of records (documents) on October 30th.
Other PT actions
PT's other lawsuits against Meta were about the circulation of false content or deepfakes against Lula, such as:
a video published by Alfredo Gaspar, vice-president of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), in which the candidate stated that Lula had received bribes and committed other crimes, according to the president's lawyers, without minimum support. The TSE, in a virtual vote, determined the removal of the video and the preservation of the record of reach, views, sharing and eventual promotion of the content.
Images of a book for sale called “Os Podres de Lula" were circulating in WhatsApp groups and, according to lawyers, presented facts known to be untrue with no defined author. Minister Nunes Marques ordered Meta to remove the advertising piece and adopt technical measures to contain the circulation of the piece in private conversations, informing what measures it took and any technical limitations.
an audio by an unknown author dealt with an alleged change by the TSE in the system of presidential elections, with voting on October 4th for Flávio Bolsonaro's voters and on October 11th for Lula's voters. The Court, in response, asked, on November 5, that Meta identify the circulation of the audio and whether it was possible to limit new forwarding. The company, in turn, argued that the action had lost its purpose, because the first round had already taken place. The TSE then requested the records of creators of WhatsApp channels that were blocked due to the circulation of the audio.
artificial intelligence videos that reproduced Lula's image in non-existent scenes. The defense claimed that they were unauthorized deepfakes, and requested the suspension of the anonymous profile that published the content, as well as the identification of its responsible. On October 21, Minister Nunes Marques decided that Meta would suspend the profile until 1 day after the second round. It also ordered the company to determine who was responsible for the profile and remove the videos indicated by the lawyers.
videos with the character created by AI “Dona Maria” - this action was filed in April, against profiles that, according to lawyers, used a character of an elderly black woman created by artificial intelligence to attack Lula and left-wing people on different social networks. The case, reported by minister André Mendonça, is still in progress. Last Thursday (12), the minister asked for letters to be sent to Meta, X, Google and TikTok to enable the citation of those responsible for the profiles. According to the order, the Judiciary Secretariat certified the impossibility of serving account administrators with the information provided so far.
Flávio Bolsonaro and the war of injunctions at the TSE
The Goal was requested twice by Flávio Bolsonaro's legal team. In both cases, the focus was on “Lula's Army”, a WhatsApp channel created by federal deputy André Janones (Rede-MG) in support of the PT member's re-election. The channel currently has 10 million followers.
The first case was filed on October 10 and led to a battle of injunctions between Court magistrates.
The episode began with a civil petition, in which Flávio's lawyers sued the TSE presidency alleging non-compliance with the compliance plan due to the alleged dissemination of irregular content. The following day, Nunes Marques suspended the channel, ordered the preservation of records and established direct regulatory supervision over WhatsApp.
But the senator's team had already contacted the electoral inspectorate, minister Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, who asked for more information for the campaign before making a decision. On the same day that Nunes Marques ordered the channel to be suspended, Cueva overturned the decision.
Subsequently, Nunes revoked Cueva's decision and ordered the registration of the Lula Army channel as an official means of communication for the PT campaign, such as websites and profiles on social networks. The channel went offline, but ended up being reestablished by the president of the TSE himself. Later, Lula's campaign pointed out that the same registration requirement had not been made for the "Tropa do Flávio" channel.
The senator's team contacted Nunes Marques again on October 20, this time because the group organized the mass publication of hashtags on X and created trending topics on Google. The defense insisted on non-compliance with the compliance plans delivered to the TSE.
The president then asked Meta for a technical report regarding the publications and evidence of coordinated behavior. Google and X were also asked to comment.
The last movement of this representation was on October 31, with the filing of documents and petitions. The documents are not public.
Actions by other authors
Other entities also sued the TSE against Meta.
This was the case of the Public Electoral Ministry (MPE), which on October 3 reported the recirculation, on WhatsApp, of a video with false information about the zerésima and the operation of electronic voting machines. The TSE then ordered the blocking of new submissions and the preservation of records, with a fine of R$100,000 per hour in case of non-compliance.
Meta, then, said it had made more than 2,000 similar contents unavailable on Facebook and Instagram and, in defense, claimed it was technically impossible to block content on WhatsApp without the full media URL.
The decision was maintained in a virtual plenary on October 12, and the ministers requested a new subpoena from the company to clarify the viability of the URL. The Public Electoral Ministry reiterated its request, and, on October 22, Nunes Marques gave the company 24 hours to block the identified media and explain whether this was sufficient.
The president also ordered the company to inform the scope of the measure and what alternatives it adopted, reserving for later the analysis of a possible fine and alleged technical impossibility. The last move in this case was the receipt of records on October 27th.
Outside the public sphere, the Vladimir Herzog Institute, a non-profit institution focused on defending democracy and human rights, spoke out. On October 21, the organization drafted an application asking for regulatory oversight of Meta's compliance plan, chronicling incidents such as boost failure and asymmetric generation of campaign images via AI. In other processes that deal with the same subject, Meta attributed the episodes to technical failures, without political direction.
In response to the institute, minister Nunes Marques requested, on November 9, the preservation of records since August 16 on possible code changes, advertisement configuration, search and recommendation. It also gave the company 10 working days to prepare a detailed and individualized technical report per incident, explaining the affected functionality and whether the decision was automated or human.
Electoral judicial investigation action
There is also a Judicial Electoral Investigation Action (Aije) that cites Meta's performance in the elections, but does not include it as required.
Processes of this nature are used to investigate abuse of economic power, abuse of political power or authority and misuse of the media that, due to their severity, compromise the normality and legitimacy of the election.
The ongoing Aije against Flávio Bolsonaro, Jair's son, was filed by the PT on October 21st. The process deals with the alleged reach favorable to Flávio on social media. Those represented are the candidate and his vice-president, Alfredo Gaspar. Meta and X are listed as interested parties.
Lula's lawyers argue that videos from Flávio's allies reached millions of people, that searches suggested content from the candidate, and that Lula and Flávio were treated differently by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms. The defense also questioned the existence of advertisements financed outside Brazil.
Two days later, the electoral inspectorate gave the company 24 hours to provide technical clarifications on the removal of publications and the distribution of political and electoral content.
In response, Meta's legal team argued that, according to its own data, there was no differentiated treatment. The company indicates that Lula's registered accounts reached around 1.5 times more people than Flávio Bolsonaro's in organic distribution, and the opposition's accounts reached 1.13 times the number of people from the government base. Flávio would have published less and had more reach per publication, while Lula would have published more and reached more people in total. Meta attributes the differences to audience, frequency and digital strategy.
This process remains ongoing. The last recorded movement was on Thursday, with the filing of a petition by one of the interested parties.
Methodology
The information is contained in the TSE's public consultation system and was accessed between November 11th and 12th.
The compilation does not take into account actions in which the Meta appears as an interested third party (outside party with an interest in the case, indirectly involved). This is the case, for example, of dozens of grievances in special electoral appeals - these are appeals against decisions of Regional Electoral Courts (TREs) which, often, involved posts made on networks controlled by Meta.
