1.2 million euros fine: Brazilian justice sanctions Meta after the presidential election
Brazilian justice imposed a fine of 1.2 million euros on Meta for its lack of transparency and failure to respect equal treatment between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro during the presidential election.
Brazilian justice on Tuesday, November 10, imposed a fine on the technology giant Meta for non-compliance with equal treatment on its platforms between President Lula and his rival Flávio Bolsonaro during the presidential election.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created a surprise by defeating Flávio Bolsonaro in the second round on October 25, at the end of a campaign during which he denounced "interference" on the part of the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp aimed at favoring his right-wing opponent, supported by Donald Trump.
The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) unanimously imposed a fine of 7.5 million reais (around 1.2 million euros) on the American firm, without however considering as proven the existence of a "deliberate action aimed at distorting the vote", according to the words of the judge-rapporteur Marco Aurélio Bellizze. After his electoral victory, the left-wing leader promised to strengthen the regulation of social networks in Brazil.
Under his mandate, a strict legal framework has already been adopted, making technology companies responsible for the content distributed by their users.
Lula's campaign team had accused Meta of "algorithmic manipulation" aimed at harming their candidate. Meta behaved like a “political agent”, penalizing Lula through “serious irregularities”, affirmed his lawyer Angelo Ferraro before the TSE.
Meta's lawyer, Patricia Marta Martins, told the TSE that the allegations of interference were "false and unfounded" and that the legal requirements had been "fully complied with" by the company.
During the presidential campaign, the TSE ordered Meta to take measures to guarantee equality in the distribution of content for the benefit of both candidates.
The seven judges of the court followed the opinion of Judge Bellizze, according to which the company did not respect deadlines and lacked transparency by providing the TSE with information that was incomplete, "generic" or even written in another language.
After refusing to acknowledge his electoral defeat, Senator Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States, while he is under police investigation for alleged money laundering. From Miami, he proclaimed himself the true “leader” of Brazil.
Machine-translated from French
Not cross-checked yet
Only La Tribune reports this story so far. We show it as a single source until another newsroom confirms it.
- La Tribune11 Nov, 12:00
| Publisher La Tribune (established tier) | +76 |
| Checkable figures cited | +3 |
| Detailed summary | +2 |
| Total | 81 |
Method: reports are grouped by the words of their headline and summary; each newsroom counts once; figures are read from the reports as published. Nothing here is written by an AI.