Meta Blocks President Lula's Facebook Page Two Weeks Before Brazil's Election
Meta Blocks President Lula's Facebook Page, Campaign Ads 2 Weeks from Election
Meta took down President Lula's Facebook page and campaign ads just two weeks before Brazil's election. The page is back online, but Lula's coalition says the move damaged his campaign. The incident has sparked outrage and calls for regulation of Meta's power over political speech.
You don't even need to coup countries anymore. Just invade their digital space.
- ocd
He said the thing that Canada, Greenland, Cuba, and various other countries are worried about, but is either publicly ignored in the US or dismissed as "trolling" by the president.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/25/lula-says-trum...
- condenser
Facebook election interference has been going on for a long time in Europe. It's a two-tier system where parties outside the establishment have a far lower ban-threshold.
- abroszka33
I hope Lula wins and they will ban Facebook for good after the elections. This is an attack on Brazil’s sovereignty.
- MrToadMan
A more accurate headline would be 'temporarily blocked' given the first line below the heading is 'The page is now back online' and it seems to have been brought back online the same day.
- Etiquette8790
American terrorists cry wolves about election interference in their country during election period. But the real fact is they interfere in democracy and democratic process across every part of the world. This is to help bolsenaro and destroy BRICS.
- dmix
According to Google, Meta restored their account within hours after it got flagged for some content.
This happens all the time on these social media websites. Automatic flagging of content, human reviewers restore it.
- smallerfish
Everybody in tech should read Careless People, not just to learn details about Meta. I'm sure many of us (myself included) have worked at places where the technical challenge outweighs any concerns about the overall company's mission or effect on the world at large. In Facebook's case they have a lot of blood on their hands.
- amelius
I would be in favor of blocking ALL political expressions on social media a few weeks before elections.
But this case is something else entirely.
- shantnutiwari
They did the same thing in India/ There were student protests that were widely covered by Western media (and the students did have a valid concern, I dont want to downplay that)
The problem is when Indian Prime Minister posted a video asking for calm, that was blocked by Meta.
Pushing one side/narrative is something western media companies like BBC and CNN do a lot, and now it seems Meta has joined the party.
- throwaway27448
I don't understand why countries don't simply block facebook, instagram, etc. There's zero upside to allowing them.