President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign accused Meta on Saturday of interfering in Brazil's presidential election through alleged content blockades on the technology company's platforms.
The campaign said in a statement that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, limited the distribution of its content in recent days. Specifically, the campaign alleged that Meta "prevented President Lula's profile from promoting feed publications on Instagram" and that an official account post "suffered an interruption in view recording, which affected its reach."
The allegations come ahead of the October 25 runoff election, in which Lula seeks a fourth term. He will face senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who served from 2019 to 2022. Flávio Bolsonaro finished first in the first round of voting held on Sunday.
Meta rejected the campaign's accusations, calling them "false," according to reports. The company did not provide additional details in response to the allegations.
The campaign also stated that similar content restrictions occurred before the first round of voting, though the statement did not specify the nature or extent of those earlier incidents.