Meta admits failures in the moderation of electoral content in Brazil and USA

O Meta Supervision Board, a company that controls social networks Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, today recognized “recurrent failures” in moderating the group’s content related to the presidential elections in Brazil and interim elections in the United States.

“ From the removal of accounts of political activists during demonstrations in the United States, before the mid-term elections, to technical restrictions that affected the accounts of a presidential candidate in Brazil — generating accusations of electoral interference — it is clear that the Meta needs to do more to ensure that its moderation practices during the electoral periods are transparent and consistent,” said the Supervisory Board in a statement.

This body is financed by Meta, which is obliged to heed its decisions, but not its recommendations.

The day before, the Brazilian Justice had given a deadline of 24 hours for the American group to prove that it was dispensing an equal treatment in its networks to the campaigns of the President-in-Office, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and his conservative opponent Flávio Bolsonaro.

The second round of the presidential election, which takes place this Sunday, will define the winner between the two candidates, who are currently tied in the polls of intent to vote.

However, President Lula accused the Meta of restricting the circulation of its contents on Instagram and WhatsApp.

The Meta denied any bias in the electoral process. The company recognized that it had disabled, by mistake, announcements of Lula's campaign, attributing the fact to “incidents” technicians that are not limited to Brazil.

“ We repeatedly warn that, during elections and periods of high political tension, the failures in the moderation of Meta contents usually manifest in two ways: an excessive application of the rules, which suppresses the political discourse, and an insufficient application, which compromises the integrity of the electoral process ", highlighted the Meta Supervisory Board.

The body also reiterated the request for the group to adapt its moderation systems to electoral contexts.

Dozens of protesters protested today in front of the Meta headquarters in São Paulo to demand that the technological multinational stop interfering with Brazilian presidential and favor Flávio Bolsonaro in the election campaign.

“Meta, do not interfere” was the slogan sung by protesters on Monday, in front of the building that houses the company’s office owner Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook, in the famous financial center of the capital of São Paulo, Faria Lima, where creative flags and posters erected in the middle of the concentration gave the tone to the protest.