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jair bolsonaro
Research Shows Meta Algorithm 'Actively Boosting' Bolsonaro Ahead of Brazil Election
The researchers concluded at the end of their experiment that "Instagram’s algorithm aggressively promoted pro-Bolsonaro and right-leaning content" while "actively suppressing Lula’s official campaign account."
The content that Instagram's algorithm pushed toward the newly created account "was overwhelmingly political," the researchers found. "Of all 50 posts, 74%, were pro-Bolsonaro/right/leaning and only 18% were pro-Lula/left-leaning—glaring evidence of a significant right-wing bias in Instagram’s recommender systems."
"Pro-Lula/left-leaning content performed better per post on every engagement measure, yet was recommended far less often, undercutting any claim that Instagram’s algorithm is simply showing users content that is performing best," Ekō said. "Pro-Lula/left-leaning posts averaged 398,000 likes, around 64,000 comments, and 108,000 shares each—more than double the likes and over seven times the comments, and more than nine times the shares of the average pro-Bolsonaro/right-leaning post."
One of the posts that Instagram's algorithm served up to the new account features military police officer Sargento Castro standing alongside a smiling Bolsonaro.
"If you try to fight back," the caption of the post reads, "you’re going straight into a body bag."
Vanessa Lemos, a senior campaigner at Ekō, said the research shows Meta is "interfering in Brazil’s elections in plain sight—boosting Bolsonaro and suppressing Lula content."
"Meta must prove it is complying with the electoral court’s equal-treatment order, verify who pays for political ads, and make its moderation decisions appealable," said Lemos. "Unaccountable Big Tech cannot be allowed to derail democracy."
On Tuesday, Meta told Brazil's Superior Electoral Court that it "has adopted measures to ensure equal treatment," of Lula and Bolsonaro ahead of the October 25 runoff, Reuters reported. Lula has requested Bolsonaro's disqualification from the presidential race over Meta's alleged election interference. Meta employees have acknowledged internally that Lula's accounts have faced restrictions in the lead-up to the election.
Meta's conduct has drawn scrutiny from United Nations experts, who warned on Wednesday that "reports of restrictions on legitimate political expression on Meta platforms during Brazil’s elections raise concerns for freedom of expression, association, political participation and equal treatment of political viewpoints."
"Monitoring reports show thousands of accounts and posts have faced suspensions, reduced visibility, and sharing limits, including journalists, human rights defenders, civil society actors, and content creators,” the UN experts said. “Information, including from Meta employees, suggests that accounts linked to one side of the presidential race were disproportionately curtailed.”
Lawmakers from the US, where Meta is headquartered, wrote a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week demanding that the company "take immediate action to ensure that, going forward, candidates and their campaigns in democratic elections receive equal treatment and access on your platform."
Lula Campaign Asks to Probe Sudden US Shutdown of Consular Services as 'Interference in Brazilian Elections'
In a petition filed to Brazil's Superior Electoral Court, Lula's campaign said taking such an action just days before Brazilians vote "projects instability over the electoral environment," something it said was part of a larger "infrastructure of external intervention in the Brazilian electoral process.”
In recent days, Brazil's intelligence agency said it confirmed the existence of interference by the US in Brazil's election to support Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro—who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence under house arrest for orchestrating a coup attempt in 2022.
"Although Trump has not formally endorsed him, Bolsonaro is undoubtedly Washington’s preferred candidate," explained Nick Cleveland-Stout, a research associate at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, on Friday. "Often at the request of the Bolsonaro family, the US has engaged in a pressure campaign to weaken the Lula government, sparking fears of further interference."
Trump responded with hostility to the prosecution of the disgraced ex-president—imposing tariffs of up to 50% on Brazilian imports in retaliation, sanctioning the Supreme Court justice overseeing the case, and threatening to use American "military might" against Brazil.
He's also designated two Brazilian crime groups as "narcoterrorist" organizations, invoking a similar pretext Trump used to justify his invasion of Venezuela to kidnap its leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
As the election has approached, Trump has appeared to put his thumb on the scale in an effort to stop Lula from achieving what would be an unprecedented fourth term.
In July, the US consulate in São Paulo invited right-wing pro-Bolsonaro social media influencers to a closed-door roundtable meeting to discuss “freedom of expression and the digital environment.”
The Guardian reported on Thursday that the State Department was also diverting $1 million from its human rights fund to oppose "judicial overreach and censorship" by Brazil’s Supreme Court, an apparent reference to the court's actions against Bolsonaro and his allies.
The Brazilian government has denied visas to two State Department officials whom it said were seeking to discuss "election integrity," which it perceived as an effort to “undermine the electoral system.”
Trump and his allies have previously spread baseless conspiracy theories to cast doubt upon Lula's victory in 2022, which helped to fuel the failed coup. They've done the same with the victories of other left-wing candidates in Latin American elections—including Bolivia's Evo Morales in 2019 and Guatemala's Bernardo Arévalo in 2023.
Lula's campaign said the sudden US suspension of consular services was "yet another extremely serious development in the interference in Brazilian elections by the US government," alleging that it was "coordinated, by all indications, directly by the brothers Flávio and Eduardo Bolsonaro.”
The filing noted that even “the legislative branch of the foreign state itself… recognizes the pattern of external pressure." It pointed to a letter sent earlier this week by Democratic US Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Peter Welch (Vt.), and Tim Kaine (Va.) to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which said that "the administration’s most recent actions point toward an effort to interfere with, and potentially undermine, Brazil’s general election in October."
A man wearing a mask depicting US President Donald Trump attends a rally of Brazilian right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro in Goiania, Brazil, on September 27, 2026. (Photo by Sergio Lima/AFP via Getty Images)
The first round of Brazil's election will begin on Sunday. Should neither candidate receive 50% of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates will be held on October 25. Several major polls show Lula with a narrow first-round lead entering Sunday, although others have the race effectively tied or Bolsonaro slightly ahead.
But Lula has also seized upon Trump's meddling to portray Bolsonaro as a tool of foreign powers, drawing on a history of US-backed coups and election interference that have undermined Brazilian democracy.
“Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate and what Trump wants is to colonize Brazil, take our riches, steal our future and leave us in the dust," said a campaign ad that began airing last week.
The Trump administration, for its part, has continued to double down on public overtures toward imperialist ambition. On Thursday, an official US State Department social media account reposted a video created in August glorifying the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine and declaring that "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."
Dov H. Levin, a political scientist at the University of Hong Kong who recently published research on the effects of foreign election interference, told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo that, if too overt, Trump's intervention could backfire.
"There are cases of failure," he said, "and cases where the reaction provoked by the intervention harms precisely the side it intended to help."
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