[Anchor]

Controversy over alleged election interference by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is flaring up in the United States and Brazil. Critics point to allegations that Meta has suppressed posts by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for re-election, while outright blocking the account of a group organizing protests against U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite Meta's explanations, suspicions continue to mount.

Reporter Yu Deok-gi has the details.

[Reporter]

[Meta, do not interfere!]

Ahead of the presidential runoff election held on the 25th local time, supporters of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who is seeking another term, held a protest outside the Meta building in Sao Paulo.

The controversy erupted after local media exposed internal Meta messages indicating that the company restricted paid promotion features for Lula's Instagram account while engineering algorithms to recommend the Instagram and WhatsApp accounts of his rival, Jair Bolsonaro.

[Camilo Santana / Head of Brazilian President Lula da Silva's Election Campaign: We cannot tolerate the election interference by big tech companies happening in Brazil, especially the intervention by Meta.]

President Lula's camp, which has clashed with U.S. President Trump over tariff issues and other matters, suspects Meta of interfering in the election due to its close ties with Trump.

While stating there is no evidence of intentional action, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court issued an order prohibiting Meta from engaging in discriminatory practices, such as excluding specific candidates' 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 organizing the demonstrations was abruptly blocked for 90 minutes.

The leader of the organization claimed that Meta intentionally sought to obstruct the protests.

[Ezra Levin / Co-founder of the U.S. "No Kings" Coalition: We received word from our team that Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has suspended the Instagram account of the No Kings coalition. We were locked out of our account.]

Meta explained that the incident was an error caused by a sudden surge in traffic within a short period. However, even the Oversight Board, Meta's independent oversight panel, criticized both incidents, stating they suppressed political speech and undermined electoral fairness.

Controversy over major digital corporations wielding control over social media and exerting massive influence on public opinion worldwide, thereby undermining electoral fairness and democracy, is expected to intensify further.

(Video Editing: Lim Yeojin, Design: Yang Kitae, Video Source: YouTube Rede TVT, meidasnews)