[Anchor]
Meta, the company that operates social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, is embroiled in a heated controversy over alleged election interference. There are claims that the company intentionally suppressed posts from specific candidates or even blocked access to their accounts. Despite Meta's explanation that it was merely a "glitch," suspicions continue to grow.
Reporting by Yu Deok-gi.
[Reporter]
[Meta, do not interfere!]
Ahead of the presidential runoff election held on the 25th local time, supporters of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running for re-election, held a protest in front of the Meta building in São Paulo.
Suspicion arose after local media exposed internal Meta messages indicating that Meta had restricted paid promotion features for Lula's Instagram account while allowing algorithms to recommend the Instagram and WhatsApp accounts of his rival, Jair Bolsonaro.
[Camilo Santana / Coordinator for Brazilian President Lula's Campaign: We cannot tolerate the election interference by big tech companies taking place in Brazil, especially the interference by Meta.]
President Lula's camp, which has frequently clashed with U.S. President Donald Trump over tariff issues, suspects Meta of interfering in the election due to its close ties with Trump.
Although Brazil's Superior Electoral Court stated there was no evidence of intentional wrongdoing, it issued an order prohibiting Meta from engaging in discriminatory practices, such as excluding specific candidate posts from algorithms or restricting their visibility in search results.
Similar suspicions have emerged in the United States ahead of the midterm elections.
On the 17th local time, as the "No Kings" protests opposing the Trump administration were in full swing, access to the Instagram account of the group that organized the protests was suddenly blocked for 90 minutes.
The leader of the organization claimed that Meta intentionally sought to disrupt the protests.
[Ezra Levin / Co-founder of the U.S. "No Kings" Coalition: We received word from our team that Mark Zuckerberg's Meta suspended the Instagram account of the No Kings coalition. We were completely locked out of accessing the account.]
Meta explained that it was a technical glitch caused by a sudden surge in traffic within a short period of time. However, even the Oversight Board, Meta's independent oversight panel, criticized both incidents, stating they suppressed political speech and undermined election fairness.
Controversies surrounding big digital companies—which hold control over social media and exert massive influence on public opinion worldwide—over undermining democratic processes and election fairness are expected to intensify further.
(Video Editing: Lim Yeojin, Design: Yang Gi-tae)
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