Brazil elections: Meta failed to check foreign-funded ads, fake profiles of poll officials

On the eve of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States, in January 2025, Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that changes would be made to his company’s moderation policies in the name of “freedom of expression”, which, he said, was under threat by global pressures for what he saw as censorship. The announcement signaled a rapprochement between Meta and the far right around a common goal: the deregulation of Big Tech.

Since then, growing entanglement between major technology companies and the US President Donald Trump administration has shown how the private interests of a small group can override the public interest.

In recent months, allegations have been mounting that Big Tech companies, especially Meta, have been interfering in the Brazilian electoral process this year, aiming to undermine the reelection of President Lula.

This kind of accusation is not new. Over the past decade, a vast body of literature has exposed the mediating role played by digital platforms in foreign interference in elections around the world. These reports have also highlight the challenges of holding companies accountable for allowing these interference campaigns to be amplified.

At our research group, NetLab UFRJ, we have spent years investigating how major digital platforms shape public debate and influence people’s perceptions of reality, often outside the regulatory...

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