TSE has majority to order that Meta ensure equal treatment for candidates

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) formed a majority of votes this Friday (16) to uphold the individual decision of Justice Marco Aurélio Belizze that prohibited Meta from restricting the delivery of posts involving candidates for President of the Republic. So far, four of the Court's seven justices have voted to uphold the justice's decision. The virtual session to judge the case continues for the remaining votes to be cast. The votes to uphold the decision were cast by Justices Floriano de Azevedo Marques, André Mendonça, and Estela Aranha, in addition to Belizze's own vote. Under the TSE decision, Facebook, one of the platforms operated by Meta, must refrain from applying measures to reduce distribution, remove recommendations, and restrict searches. In case of non-compliance, a daily fine of R$ 500,000 will be applied. The decision was issued after the campaign of reelection candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) informed the TSE that artificial intelligence image generation commands did not allow the creation of content about Lula. However, the creation of images related to candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) is permitted. The other side After the PT reported the failures, Meta stated that the recommendation of candidates was prohibited, in accordance with the TSE's determination. The platform also reported that it took additional measures to restrict recommendations. "In compliance with Brazil's electoral rules, we have temporarily prohibited the recommendation of candidates or the generation of images of them. We have taken additional measures so that commands using only the candidates' first names and their ballot numbers also do not produce images," the company stated.