Brazil Penalizes Meta Over Political Bias Claims During Election Campaign

(MENAFN) Brazil's Superior Electoral Court has ordered Meta to pay a fine of 7.5 million reais ($1.34 million) after determining that the company failed to provide complete information requested through judicial orders investigating alleged political bias on its platforms during an election campaign.

The unanimous ruling, issued Tuesday, concluded that Meta had not sufficiently responded to 17 requirements established by the court to examine accusations that political content from competing presidential campaigns received unequal treatment across its services.

The proceedings originated from a complaint submitted by the coalition backing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's reelection bid. The alliance alleged that Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, reduced the visibility of content supporting Lula while giving greater exposure to material associated with his defeated opponent, Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party.

The complaint also questioned the presence of political advertisements allegedly financed by foreign entities, the circulation of negative campaign material produced through artificial intelligence and the removal of recommendations for publications supporting Lula.

In his assessment of the case, reporting judge Marco Aurelio Belizze criticized the company's lack of transparency, pointing to submissions containing foreign-language material, consolidated statistics and broad explanations that prevented proper verification of the accusations.

Meta denied engaging in political favoritism, dismissing the allegations as false and without foundation. The company maintained that discrepancies highlighted in independent research did not adequately consider differences in the candidates' online campaign strategies or repeated views of the same videos.

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