Security1 publisher2 min readPublished
Meta blocked Lula's campaign ads a week after approving 87% of Eko's disinformation test ads
Meta disabled President Lula's Facebook page and campaign ad account a week after an Eko Movement test got 87% of its disinformation ads approved. The Workers' Party says Meta gave no reason for a restriction imposed less than 11 days before Brazil's first round.
The Watch · Security desk
Drafted by a language model from the sources cited here and checked against its claim ledger before publication. How we use AISend a correction
What happened
- Amnesty International reported on August 25 that Meta had failed to block most of the 15 AI-generated election disinformation ads it set up to test compliance with Brazilian law.
- The ads Eko got approved included AI content depicting execution-style threats against lawmakers and calls for a 'stop the steal'-style coup, according to the report.
- In a complaint sent Thursday, the campaign asked Meta to restore its election ad account at once so it could run and promote new ads and share audiences.
- Lula's page is back online, but his electoral coalition says the outage damaged the campaign while it lasted.
- Workers' Party communications secretary Eden Valadares said the party has not ruled out taking the case to the Superior Electoral Court.
Compiled by The WatchSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- exposure On the September test results, anyone able to buy Meta ads in Brazil had better-than-even odds of getting AI-generated election disinformation approved in the campaign's final weeks.
- cost A restriction this close to the first round costs the campaign days of paid reach it cannot buy back after the vote, and any court remedy would arrive later still.
- decision Meta has to decide how much of its enforcement record on this account to explain now, with the campaign already demanding the logs be frozen for a possible liability suit.
Amnesty's "most of 15" means at least 8 of its test ads got through Meta's review [1][1]. Eko's approval rate was 87% [2]. Both figures are above half. They come from two separate groups whose results were published 22 days apart [4][2].
Both results reach this account secondhand. They appear in a summary by Joao Antonio Cunha, an editor at Brasil 247, that Panamerican Dispatch republished in English [16].
The restriction on Lula is a single incident. It came about September 23, one week after Eko's results [3][4]. His lawyers told Meta the move "poses a serious risk to the candidate's level playing field in the election" [12]. They also said that unilaterally deactivating, blocking or limiting a candidate's accounts in this window is "extremely serious" under electoral law [10]. The source does not include a statement from Meta or say whether the ad account came back along with the page [5].
Two details suggest the campaign expects Meta to call this an automated mistake [8][15]. The lawyers asked for "direct human review by analysts from the platform's legal and compliance department" [8]. Eden Valadares wrote on X: "Brazil's electoral contest, its campaigns and its vote cannot be left at the mercy of the political preferences of the big tech companies, whose supposed programming errors only hit and harm one campaign and one candidate." [15]
A responder would recognise the preservation demand. The lawyers asked Meta to "immediately contain, freeze and preserve all digital evidence linked to the account, including log records and the full database of the account" [9]. If a classifier made the call, the logs would show it. The campaign and the party say that if Meta refuses their requests, they could sue to hold the company "civilly, criminally and electorally liable" [13].
Meta's ad-review weakness has been measured twice, with the same result [4]. The Lula restriction is one unexplained action, and the only account of it comes from the campaign it hit [6][16]. Until Meta gives a reason, the action cannot be classed as either an error or a deliberate decision [6]. The timing alone does not tie it to the ad tests [3].
What to watch
- A stated reason from Meta for the restriction, and confirmation of whether the campaign ad account was restored along with the page.
- A Workers' Party filing at the Superior Electoral Court before the first round.
- Any change to Meta's ad review in Brazil, or a retest by Amnesty or Eko, before the vote.