Brazil's Lula accuses Meta of election interference


Brazil's Lula accuses Meta of election interference <br> The campaign of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused tech giant Meta of election interference on Saturday after his social media content was allegedly blocked on the company&#39;s platforms. The leftist leader is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in the October 25 runoff, where he will face Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. In a statement, Lula&#39;s campaign reported instances where platforms owned by Meta -- the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram -- allegedly restricted the distribution of his content. The campaign claimed that in recent days, Meta &quot;prevented President Lula&#39;s profile from promoting Instagram feed posts,&quot; while a post from his official account &quot;experienced an interruption in view counts, which affected its reach.&quot; It also said that prior to last Sunday&#39;s first round of voting -- in which Flavio Bolsonaro finished first -- the profiles of Lula and other leftist leaders &quot;suddenly disappeared from Instagram&#39;s search function.&quot; &quot;The series of technical issues... raises strong suspicions that Meta&#39;s actions constitute an attempt to interfere in the Brazilian electoral process to the benefit of Flavio Bolsonaro&#39;s candidacy,&quot; the statement added. Brazil&#39;s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on Saturday gave the social media giant 48 hours to clarify whether it reduced the reach of posts by Lula&#39;s campaign and to explain the irregularities reported. Read More:&nbsp;Bill Gates warns cyberattacks most imminent AI threat Meta was ordered to &quot;report, profile by profile, all the measures applied&quot; to &quot;Lula&#39;s official accounts&quot; and to &quot;explain the anomalies in the metrics&quot; of the videos, the TSE said. Meta&#39;s Brazil office denied the charges, calling them &quot;simply false&quot; and &quot;not supported by the facts.&quot; &quot;Many of the technical issues mentioned did not affect only Brazil or specific accounts,&quot; Meta told AFP in an email. &quot;We comply with electoral regulations and are committed to a level playing field regarding the use of our platforms.&quot; Lula&#39;s campaign has filed a complaint with the electoral court over the alleged social media blocks. Following the first round of voting, Lula -- who does not use a mobile phone -- launched a social media push that includes videos of him addressing his online followers. <br> <img src="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2634278/brazils-lula-accuses-meta-of-election-interference" alt=" Brazil's Lula accuses Meta of election interference" width="100%">

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