Brazil’s Top Election Court Fines Meta 7.5 Million Reais Over Partial Noncompliance in 2026 Probe

Brazil’s top election court unanimously fined Meta 7.5 million reais, or about $1.3 million, on Tuesday for failing to fully comply with court orders during an investigation into alleged biased distribution of campaign content in the 2026 election.

The Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, or TSE, said the penalty was for Meta’s noncompliance with judicial determinations requiring information and explanations during the election period, not a final ruling that the company deliberately favored any candidate. The broader case remains open, and the court has not set a deadline for a final judgment on the underlying allegations.

In his vote, relator Minister Marco Aurélio Bellizze said he had issued 17 measures to Meta during the campaign and that some were met only partially or after court deadlines. The court said some of the company’s responses were incomplete, late, submitted in English, presented in aggregated form or framed in generic terms that made verification difficult. Bellizze wrote: “As informações careceram de transparência, pois parte delas foi apresentada em língua estrangeira, em dados agregados ou em declarações genéricas.”

The fine was calculated as a coercive penalty based on days of noncompliance. According to the ruling, Meta was fined 500,000 reais per day for three days, from Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, and 1 million reais per day for six days, from Oct. 20 through Oct. 25, bringing the total to 7.5 million reais.

The case was brought by Brasil Pronto Pra Mais, the coalition that backed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s reelection. The coalition alleged that Meta gave unequal treatment to political content during the campaign, including by restricting the reach of content favorable to Lula and benefiting the campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro. Those claims remain allegations under investigation, not findings of fact by the court. The case is closely watched because Meta’s platforms — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — are major channels for political advertising and content distribution in Brazil.

Meta denied the accusations in public statements and court filings, saying its data do not show politically biased distribution and that some anomalies reflected technical incidents and differences in campaign strategy rather than deliberate favoritism. In a public statement, the company said: “Em conjunto, os resultados não apontam evidências de que a Meta tenha ordenado ou distribuído conteúdo de forma politicamente enviesada nesta campanha.”

The ruling leaves the central question unresolved: whether Meta favored any candidacy during the campaign. Bellizze said there were not yet enough elements in the summary proceeding to conclude there had been deliberate conduct to benefit one side, which would require stronger evidence and further procedural steps. The court also said technical documents will remain under seal, but the coalition will be allowed to access Meta’s compliance filings except for materials describing Meta AI filters and synthetic-content detection parameters, which were kept restricted as trade secrets.