Meta disables Lula campaign ads days before Brazil's presidential vote

Meta briefly suspended advertising on the Facebook profile of Brazil’s left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, only days before the national election on October 4. Lula’s campaign has filed an appeal and is awaiting clarification from the company. The move follows an Amnesty International test that submitted fourteen misleading ads; eight were approved, and one urged a military coup if the vote share dropped below half.

Amnesty’s Brazil director, Jurema Werneck, called the platform’s oversight “deeply alarming.” The controversy adds to an already charged race between Lula and far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, with accusations of foreign interference and extremist rhetoric. The incident highlights ongoing concerns about social-media firms’ role in spreading election-related misinformation.