Brussels \u2013 Lula again, or Bolsonaro once more \u2013 but the younger one? Brazil will need a run-off to choose its president, in an election dominated by low turnout (21 per cent of voters abstained in the first round) and irregular behaviour on social media, which has sparked an outcry in Europe. The day of reckoning will be 25 October, when the second round will determine whether Brazil remains under Labour leadership or whether power returns to the far right. <\/p>\n
In Brussels, the day after the first round, questions are being raised about the resilience of democracy and the role of social media. Flavio Bolsonaro is leading in the polls (47 per cent) ahead of the outgoing president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva (45 per cent), a result likely influenced by the decisions of Meta<\/strong>, the internet giant owned by Mark Zuckerberg, which controls the well-known platforms Facebook and Instagram \u2013 a situation criticised by Sandro Ruotolo<\/strong> (PD\/S&D), a member of the Special Committee on the European Shield for Democracy.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cTen days before the first round of the Brazilian presidential elections, Meta suddenly disabled the adverts on the Facebook page of President and candidate Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva,<\/strong>\u201d the MEP reports and laments. Lula\u2019s team \u201clodged an appeal and, just a few hours later, the adverts were reinstated\u201d. <\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all, because, as the MEP himself reports, \u201con the same day Meta also suspended an Instagram account that had shared a video which went viral about a corruption scandal<\/strong> involving Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro<\/strong>, a presidential candidate and Lula\u2019s main rival.\u201d It transpired that subsequently \u201cthe account was reactivated and Meta apologised, citing an internal error.\u201d Still, in the meantime, these events ended up undermining the Workers\u2019 Party candidate and instead benefiting the national-conservative one.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/14\/barbero-censored-by-meta-over-justice-referendum-eu-we-monitor-platforms-compliance-with-regulations\/ <\/p>\n \u201cIn the midst of an election campaign, a private company had the power to suspend one of a presidential candidate\u2019s communication channels unilaterally<\/strong> and to censor political content concerning his main opponent,\u201d continues Ruotolo. The PD\u2019s delegation leader in the European Parliament, Nicola Zingaretti<\/strong>, asks: \u201cHow free are our democracies<\/strong> if a handful of private platforms can decide who can speak, to whom and when?\u201d <\/p>\n The issue raised brings the topic of foreign interference \u2013 all of it from the US \u2013 in the elections of independent and sovereign countries back into the spotlight. First it was Elon Musk, owner, among other companies, of the social media platform X, who had openly sided with the far right in Germany<\/a>. Now it is Zuckerberg who has ended up meddling heavily in the Brazilian election. <\/p>\n