Brazil election tensions surge as Lula demands rival's disqualification over Meta

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has petitioned the country's electoral authorities to disqualify his conservative opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro, ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff, alleging that technology company Meta skewed the race.

The legal motion submitted to the Superior Electoral Court on Wednesday claims that Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, suppressed campaign material from Lula while actively amplifying content for his opponent. Lula's legal team is demanding an inquiry into alleged abuses of economic power and illicit social media use, seeking to bar Bolsonaro and his running mate, Alfredo Gaspar, from public office for eight years following the 2026 vote.

Bolsonaro quickly launched a counter-challenge, petitioning the court to disqualify the sitting president instead. The right-wing challenger claimed the administration carried out an abuse of power by pulling personal details from public databases to blast out promotional messages about state welfare initiatives via WhatsApp.

Meta has rejected the allegations, maintaining that neither side received preferential treatment. The company stated it will abide by directives issued by Brazilian judicial authorities to handle both campaigns impartially. Protesters backing Lula previously demonstrated outside the firm's offices in Sao Paulo to protest what they viewed as platform bias.

The legal battle follows warnings raised on Wednesday by United Nations experts regarding disparities in digital reach between the candidates. A review headed by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression called on Meta to guarantee fair competition across its networks, noting that information from platform workers pointed to accounts on one side being disproportionately suppressed. The document noted irregular user feed visibility, view metrics, and temporary curbs placed on an official campaign account, along with complaints that the firm's artificial intelligence generators failed to produce depictions of Lula.

The dispute comes in the final stretch of an exceptionally tight contest as 159 million registered voters prepare to cast ballots. Bolsonaro finished marginally ahead of Lula during the initial round of voting on October 4, though neither contender crossed the 50 percent threshold needed to prevent a runoff. Lula is pursuing an unprecedented fourth presidential term as recent surveys point to a dead heat.