Folha: Leaked Meta Messages Say Lula’s Instagram Was Hindered; Meta Denies Bias

Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reports that internal Meta messages show staff discussing restrictions that hurt President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Instagram accounts during the election campaign, and an algorithm recommending his challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. Meta rejects claims of favouritism as “false and unfounded”. It says the episodes had technical or rules-based causes and disputes a key part of Folha’s timeline.

The story comes days before the 25 October runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. The quotes from Portuguese below are TSN’s translations.

What Folha reports

Folha’s report is based on internal Meta messages the paper says it reviewed. TSN has not seen the messages. Reuters, relaying the report, wrote that Meta employees “acknowledged in internal communications that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were negatively affected by restrictions during the country’s election”. It added that “the messages also acknowledged the platform recommended the profile of challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as well as his WhatsApp channel”.

According to Folha, an employee identified as Roberto wrote that Lula’s account was “limited” compared with Flávio’s, and that this was negative given a “high chance” of legal action. Folha also reports:

• On 9 October, Lula’s official profile could not pay to boost posts on its Instagram feed for “almost 24 hours”. The campaign could still boost so-called dark posts, and existing boosts stayed live. Meta’s official explanation at the time was a “technical problem” in its ads manager.
• Meta initially pointed to a global “data outage” affecting more than 3,000 accounts. Folha says the internal messages put that outage on 7 October, lasting five hours.
• In early October, Flávio’s profile appeared as a recommendation in Instagram searches when other candidates’ did not. Folha says staff described this as a lapse. On WhatsApp, a search for a pro-Lula channel returned a channel supporting Flávio among the results.

Folha also reports problems on the other side. Both campaigns were briefly blocked from uploading ads on 23 September because of an error, and some Flávio ads were blocked on 1 October over suspected AI use. Flávio’s campaign told Folha it had had no problems with its accounts.

Crucially, Folha itself writes that “in none of the conversations accessed by Folha is there an admission of interference”. It says the messages discuss only how serious the technical problems were and how slowly engineering teams fixed them.

Meta’s response

In a statement published by UOL on 16 October, Meta disputed Folha’s account of 9 October. It said the boost tool was switched off “by mistake” for “just over 1 hour”, after an ad was classed as a possible attempt to impersonate a government social programme. Meta linked this to an April 2026 agreement with Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to fight scams involving federal programmes.

Meta said claims that it favoured candidates or interfered are “false and unfounded”. “Our systems do not rank or distribute content based on political ideology, and our rules and their enforcement apply equally to everyone,” it said. In a statement to Folha, it said the episodes had “distinct causes: global technical failures, a specific error that was promptly corrected, and the application of Brazilian electoral rules that apply equally to all candidates”.

Meta also criticised Brazil’s regulation. It said the country’s “strict rules for digital content increase the risk of over-enforcement and threaten freedom of expression”.

The disputed timeline

How long the tool was off is now a direct conflict between the two accounts. Folha, citing internal messages, says Lula’s profile could not boost feed posts for almost 24 hours on 9 October. Meta says the tool was off for just over an hour because of a mistaken scam flag. TSN cannot independently establish which is correct.

The court order and the OAS complaint

On Thursday 15 October, a justice at Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta “not to unjustifiably limit the reach of political content related to both candidates through the end of the runoff campaign”, Reuters reports. The ruling also said Meta AI “must not favor either candidate when generating election-related content”.

Reuters says Lula’s camp said earlier this week that it would file a complaint with the Organization of American States alleging that Meta manipulated social media during the election. According to Lula’s Workers’ Party, some of his posts appeared without a share button, had reduced reach, or appeared without audio or played at accelerated speed. Some of his stories also blocked reactions and sharing.

What this means

• Folha reports leaked internal Meta messages describing restrictions on Lula’s Instagram and the improper recommendation of Flávio Bolsonaro. Folha says the messages contain no admission of interference.
• Meta denies any bias, calls the claims “false and unfounded”, and says the 9 October boost problem lasted just over an hour, not almost 24 hours.
• An electoral court order from 15 October requires Meta to treat both candidates’ content equally until the 25 October runoff. Lula’s camp plans an OAS complaint.

Sources

• Folha de S.Paulo: internal Meta messages on Lula’s accounts (Portuguese)
• Reuters via Internazionale: Meta employees said Lula’s accounts were hindered during Brazil election, Folha reports
• UOL: Meta statement on Brazil’s rules and the Lula accounts (Portuguese)

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