HannahArendt.net

I’m writing you very briefly because Brazil is heading into the second round of its presidential election this Sunday, 25 October, and a serious controversy has emerged around Meta’s role in the campaign -- one that, I’m afraid, may have implications beyond Brazil.

A recent report by Folha de S.Paulo, one of our major newspapers, gave documentary support to concerns that had already been circulating widely among Brazilians. Since last week, many people on social media denounced that Meta AI, the artificial intelligence tool available on WhatsApp, refuses to create campaign material for President Lula but complies with similar requests involving Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Folha's journalist tested the tool and had similar results: The chatbot blocked a poster with the phrase "Lula 13" and generated another with the name "Flávio 22." When questioned, the tool itself acknowledged the inconsistency and attributed it to an automatic safety filter. Folha correspondents in the United States, Argentina and Germany were able to generate Lula posters, including ones with photos, using accounts without Brazilian area codes. Brazilian numbers, even when used abroad, had their requests blocked.

According to the report, internal Meta communications indicated that Lula-related accounts had been harmed by restrictions, while Flávio Bolsonaro’s profile and WhatsApp channel were receiving unusually favorable distribution. Meta acknowledges "technical problems" but strongly (and unsurprisingly) denies political bias or deliberate manipulation.

Here is a concise Reuters account for readers abroad: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/meta-employees-said-lulas-accounts-were-hindered-during-brazil-election-folha-2026-10-16/

It seems to me that this is not an exclusively Brazilian phenomenon. It seems part of a broader transnational political ecosystem in which platforms, political actors and similar strategies increasingly affect the conditions under which democratical institutions have been working.

This is close to questions I have been working on around technology and political visibility, but I am writing you here mainly because I think colleagues outside Brazil should know what is happening here — and remain attentive to comparable processes in their own countries.

See „Fake News and World Alienation: Reflections on Bolsonaro’s Presidential Campaign“ HannahArendt.net 10/2020