Brazil court orders Meta to treat candidates equally

A Brazilian electoral court judge has ordered Meta to apply equal standards to presidential candidates Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro on its platforms and artificial intelligence tool, following allegations that its systems disadvantaged Lula’s campaign. Meta faces a fine of 500,000 reais per day if it fails to comply. Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze issued the order on Thursday, requiring the company to avoid restricting political content in ways that create an imbalance between the candidates. It also bars Meta from reducing distribution, limiting searches or removing posts in a manner that unfairly affects either campaign, and directs its AI tool to use identical criteria for both. The ruling followed a complaint filed by Lula’s campaign at Brazil’s electoral court. The filing alleged that Meta’s algorithms and AI restrictions reduced the reach of Lula’s campaign materials and organic posts while boosting content associated with Flávio Bolsonaro. The campaign also said some users could not generate pro-Lula campaign images through WhatsApp’s Meta AI, though they could generate material supporting Bolsonaro. Lula’s campaign sought an end to the alleged...