The re-election campaign of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) filed a judicial electoral investigation, known in Brazil as an ação de investigação judicial eleitoral (Aije), at the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE, the Superior Electoral Court) on Wednesday, seeking to cancel the candidacy registration of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) and his running mate, Alfredo Gaspar (PL). The filing comes four days before the runoff, set for Sunday, 25 October.
Lula's lawyers argue that there was abuse of economic power and improper use of the means of social communication. According to the petition, Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy benefited from targeted boosting of posts on Meta's platforms, while content about Lula had its reach restricted.
What the case alleges
The filing says the company's artificial-intelligence image generator blocked requests involving Lula while allowing requests involving Flávio Bolsonaro. Meta replied that it does not give preferential treatment to any candidate, party or political position, and said it had temporarily suspended the generation of images of candidates in order to comply with Brazilian electoral law.
The campaign also attached engagement figures to support its case. According to the survey filed with the action and reported by Brasil 247, Flávio Bolsonaro's Instagram profile had around 13.6 million followers against Lula's 16.4 million — fewer followers, therefore — but averaged 15.64 million views per Reel, against his opponent's 5.91 million. The normalised engagement rate cited in the petition is 10.23% against 2.86%.
That mismatch between follower base and reach is precisely where the case rests: for the campaign, a smaller profile delivering almost three times the views points to artificial distribution rather than spontaneous public preference. It is for the court to decide whether the difference has another explanation.
Another section deals with WhatsApp channels. The campaign says the channel "Tropa do Flávio" and the candidate's Instagram profile appeared in automatic recommendations, which electoral law forbids, and that searches for Lula's channel also returned his opponent's. The action further cites the restriction on boosting Lula's posts from 9 October; Meta attributed the episode to a global technical fault two days earlier.
The history at the court
Friction between Lula's campaign and Meta had already reached the TSE before the Aije. According to Brasil 247, justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze granted injunctions on 15 and 18 October ordering equal treatment for the two candidacies, under a daily fine of R$ 500,000, later raised to R$ 1 million. The court's full bench upheld the order unanimously.
The Aije was assigned to justice Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, and there is no deadline for the rapporteur to decide. A case of this kind rarely concludes before the vote: cancelling a candidacy registration requires a full evidentiary stage, with a defence and the production of proof.
The reports consulted contain no comment from Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign on the action.
With information from Agência Brasil, CartaCapital and Brasil 247.
