Brazil's election court moves to curb AI-driven misinformation before October vote
Brazil's top elections court is poised to tighten limits on AI-generated content as the October 4 election draws near, after legal challenges involving AI avatars and deepfakes.
With Brazil's presidential election scheduled for October 4, the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral is expected to adopt stricter rules on artificial-intelligence-generated or altered content in campaign activities. The decision follows a July legal challenge after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro's party displayed an AI avatar of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who remains under house arrest. Both major candidates, Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have posted hundreds of AI-labeled messages, though Lula's campaign largely shuns the technology while Bolsonaro's embraces it with AI-made songs and videos.
The TSE has already received 19 AI-related complaints, ordered the removal of a fabricated video linking Bolsonaro with a scandal-tainted banker, and enforces bans on deepfakes, AI recommendation tools, and near-election AI promotions. Surveys indicate 75% of Brazilians use AI daily and 63% would consult AI on candidates, raising concerns that chatbots could rank or recommend candidates despite a prohibition. Experts stress that the risk lies not in the tools themselves but in their potential misuse to distort democratic processes.
Why it matters
AI-driven misinformation could sway Brazil’s pivotal election, threatening the fairness of the democratic process.
In this story
