Research by Brazilian digital-rights group CTRL+Z, documented in Revista Fórum, found 1,088 instances of Meta removing, restricting, or reducing the reach of accounts and posts that supported President Lula during the electoral period. The cases fall into three main categories: reach suppression (36.8%), functionality restrictions (32%), and outright bans (22%), with about 10% amounting to full account removals (108 bans). Specific examples include anomalous video view counts on Lula’s official account and influencers, Meta admitting a video-counting glitch, campaign accounts blocked from sending messages, academics’ videos downranked under vague policy claims, and at least 17 profiles removed after being named in a lawsuit by Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign.
Targets disproportionately included social movements and student organizations - MST Pará, PSOL Floripa, Coletivo Maré 0800, Coletivo Artêmista and multiple university student unions among them - affecting campaign coordination and outreach. Reported harms include financial losses for 56 creators, disruption of organizational communication for 29 groups, audience fragmentation from forced account changes, and self-censorship cited in at least 20 reports. CTRL+Z launched a “Meta, Hands Off Our Election” campaign demanding restoration of suppressed profiles, human-reviewed appeal channels, transparency on shadowbans and metric anomalies, and provided legal and complaint templates; at least two users have had accounts reinstated and ongoing evidence-gathering aims to support further legal action.
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