OPEN LETTER:
Big Techs are interfering with Brazilian elections. Authorities must act.

Joint Statement by International Civil Society Organizations.
October, 2026

We, the undersigned civil society organizations dedicated to the defense of democracy, human rights, digital rights, and press freedom, express our deep concern about the systematic violations of Brazil’s electoral rules by Big Tech companies during the 2026 general elections. Brazil is in the final stretch of its presidential race, with the October 25 runoff between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. In a deeply divided country where social media plays a decisive role in shaping political outcomes, the conduct of the major platforms during this election raises serious concerns about electoral integrity and its broader implications for democracy.

Independent researchers, journalists, and civil society organizations have been running surveys, audits, and writing reports documenting a pattern of conducts expressly banned under electoral rules since March 2026, enabled by the tech companies operating in Brazil.

Generative AI systems were found ranking and recommending candidates and deepfakes are circulating without any AI labeling. Ekō documented Meta taking in money from foreign accounts to boost political ads containing deepfakes, and Amnesty International found disinformation ads sent from abroad with no verification. A NetLab UFRJ analysis of 2,326 Meta ads found that 68.1% attacked institutions or raised suspicions about the conduct of the election. On election day itself, during the legally mandated blackout window, irregular ads ran on Meta, Kwai, and Google, and candidate videos were recommended on TikTok and YouTube. AI was also disproportionately weaponized against women candidates: a MonitorA survey of 9,888 images found that one in four offensive images targeting female candidates showed signs of AI generation, used to scale up misogynistic, racist, and transphobic attacks.

These violations are compounded by arbitrary content moderation that disproportionately suppressed legitimate electoral speech, mostly on Meta’s platforms: thousands of users reported bans, removals, and shadowbanning after posting electoral content, including the profiles of student unions, social justice movements, and journalists. All of this without providing any further explanation, let alone respecting users’ right to appeal.

Ahead of the first-round vote, Google, Meta, TikTok, OpenAI, Kwai, X, and other companies were required to submit compliance plans and cooperation agreements to electoral authorities. They all contained commitments on timely, effective and proportionate content moderation, reporting channels, and political neutrality. However, when measured against the documented reality of this election, the conclusion is clear: these companies failed to honor their own commitments and have not been held accountable. Equally concerning, the Electoral Court itself has so far failed to use the enforcement tools the law grants it, despite the body of evidence produced by researchers, newsrooms, and independent organizations.

We therefore call on the Brazilian authorities to put an immediate end to arbitrary content moderation and require clear, reasoned, and appealable moderation decisions, and address ongoing foreign interference through paid political advertising, including by enforcing advertiser verification and transparency about the funding and origin of such ads.

The scale and cross-border nature of these violations also demand international attention. We call on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor the situation in Brazil, engage with the platforms involved, and assess whether their conduct during the Brazilian electoral period is compatible with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We likewise call on the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to follow the runoff closely. With Brazil’s October 25 runoff approaching, the authorities must act, and the companies have no excuse for failing to meet their obligations

What is at stake in Brazil is not only the outcome of one election, but the demonstration effect for every democracy facing the same combination of unaccountable platforms, unregulated generative AI, and cross-border disinformation financing. Authorities must act before it is too late.

Signatures

Organizations:

Aid Life Learn Environment, Democratic Republic of Congo
Aláfia Lab, Brazil
Amazon Watch, USA
ARTICLE 19, Global
Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva – Abrasco, Brasil
Atlas AI Institute, Bangladesh
Black Environmental Initiative, Canada
Canadian Association of the Club of Rome (CACOR), Canada
Center for Media & Digital Governance at Open Markets Institute, United States
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina/Latin America
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Australia, Australia
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada, Canada
Climate Action Network Latin America (CANLA), Latin America and the Caribbean
Código Não Binário, Brazil
Council for Responsible Social Media-Kenya, Kenya- Africa
Cultiva Lab, Spain/Europe
Currie Country Social Change Aboriginal Corporation, Bundjalung Nation New South Wales Australia
Derechos Digitales, América Latina
Digital Intimacy Coalition, Europe
Digital Rights Nepal (DRN), Nepal
Ecoequity, US
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Egypt
Ekō, Global/ Brazil
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, Europe
European Public Service Union EPSU, Europe
Febraz – Brazilian Federation of Alzheimer’s Associations, Brazil
Filha do Sol, Brazil, Northeast
Foxglove, UK
Fundacion InternetBolivia, Bolivia
Fundo de Apoio ao Jornalismo, Brasil
Global Voices, Global
Global Witness, UK
Green Screen Coalition, Global
Greenpeace Brasil, Brazil
Greenpeace International, International
Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria, Nigeria
Instituto Nupef, Brasil
IP.rec – Instituto de Pesquisa em Direito e Tecnologia do Recife, Brasil, Nordeste
ISOC chapter Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic
Iuridicum Remedium, z. s., Czechia
Laboratory of Public Policy and Internet – LAPIN, Brazil
NEVER AGAIN association, Poland
New School of the Anthropocene, UK
Nexus Research Cooperative, Ireland
Observatório da Mineração, Brazil
ONG Amaranta, Chile
Oxfam Brasil, Brasil/LAC
People vs Big Tech, Europe
Public Services International, Inter-America, Brasil
r0g_agency for open culture and critical transformation gGmbH, Germany/Berlin and Canada/Ottawa
Ranking Digital Rights, Global
Rinascimento Green, Italy
SOMO, Internation but based in the Netherlands
TEDIC, Paraguay
Terre à vie, Burkina Faso Ali
Territórios Fluidos, Brasil
The De|Center, Global
The Newsmast Foundation, United Kingdom
Tipping Point North South, UK
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), USA
Washington Brazil Office, United States of America
Wilderness Australia, Australia
WILPF UK, UK
Wing Woman Lebanon, Lebanon


Individuals:

Adebusola Obasa, National Environmental Standards Regulations And Enforcement Agency, Nigeria
Adriana Santiago, UFRJ, Brazil
Allan Todd, National Education Union
Andressa Pellanda, Scholar Deep/FeUSP
Azim Uddin Gazi, Gazi Law Firm
Barbara Schack, Independent
Catalina Gonda, Independent
Cecilia Rikap, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London
Cristianne Famer Rocha, UFRGS
Cristiano Francisco Paes de Oliveira, Fundacao Getúlio Vargas
Dário Frederico Pasche, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Diego Rossi, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UBA
Dr. Amy Margolies, Independent Consultant
Francesca Edgerton, Global Fund for a New Economy
Gabriella Seiler, Reimagine Studio
Gawaine Powell Davies, Australian Religious Response to Climate Change
Giannina Maria do Espirito Santo Wildhagen, Universidade Estácio de Sá
Gustavo Assed Ferreira, Universidade de São Paulo
Helen Massote, Oswaldo Cruz Foudantion
Isabela Maria Rosal, KU Leuven
Joao Pedro Souza de Oliveira, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
Julia Nogueira, Universidade de Brasília
Luciana Santos Collier, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Luiz Eugenio Scarpino Jr, Universidade de Sao Paulo
Mara Nazar, CISCSA Ciudades Feministas
Maria Carolina Mirabella, PUC-SP
Martin Incio, Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI)
Maximilian Krueger, Gesellschaft fuer digitalisierte nachhaltige Zusammenarbeit gGmbH Siegen, Germany/Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Brasil
Melanie Chan, Global Innovation Gathering
Michał Czepkiewicz, University of Warsaw
Miriam Duailibi, Ecoar Institute for Citizenship
Nicolas Quintana Ros, LLA Uruguaiana
Philip Inglesant, UCU University & College Union UK
Pollyanna de Oliveira Silva, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Priyanka Jain, Indian Trade Union of Stone Carving Workers
Radwa Tourky, Mansoura University
Ricardo Fagundes Carvalho, Universidade de São Paulo
Ruby Hembrom, Adivaani
Sani Emmanuel, National Youth Inclusive Initiative
Simon Ilse, Heinrich Boell Foundation
Sofia Scasserra, TNI
Stella Caram, Foxglove
Tahlia Ludlow, Australian Marine Conservation Society