During Brazil’s 2026 elections, decisions made inside digital platforms have shaped what circulates in the country’s public debate: restricted accounts, posts removed by automated systems, artificial intelligence tools that treated candidates differently. To document these episodes and demand answers, Coding Rights has launched cpibigtechs.org/#en

What you will find on the site

• A timeline of what happened on the platforms during the elections, with sources for every episode.
• Big Tech’s rap sheet: the record of fines, lawsuits and investigations against Meta and Google.
• The explanations the platforms owe us: questions organized by theme, based on the Electoral Court’s rules for these elections.
• A signature tracker for the request to open a congressional inquiry (CPI) into Big Tech.

The site is updated daily and is available in Portuguese and English.

On paper, they promised to follow the rules

Meta, Google, X, TikTok, Kwai, Telegram and other platforms submitted compliance plans to Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Entire sections of those plans were kept confidential, and the agreements include no penalties for non-compliance.

What we saw instead

Among the episodes reported and documented in the dossier:

• Meta’s AI generated material for one candidate and refused requests that named the other;
• a presidential campaign’s ad account was disabled ten days before the election;
• one in five chatbot answers recommended a candidate;
• more than 1,600 election ads paid from abroad ran on Facebook and Instagram;
• candidates’ profiles were recommended despite the Electoral Court rule that prohibits it;
• profiles of student organizations, independent media and social movements were blocked, and newspaper posts were removed as if they were AI-generated content.

When the companies dispute what was reported, their response is included in the summary of each episode.

And it got worse ahead of the runoff

The site’s “thermometer” adds up, day by day, the reported events. The curve shows how they piled up as the second round approached.

Not the first time

We pulled Meta’s and Google’s rap sheet: fines, lawsuits, investigations and convictions. There are at least 23 cases in Brazil alone, from data leaks to the campaign against Brazil’s “Fake News Bill”, monetized livestreams calling for a coup and scam ads.

What does it cost them?

In the Cambridge Analytica case, the US5billionfineintheUnitedStateswasequivalentto99daysofMeta’sprofit.ThefineinBrazil,R6.6 million, was equivalent to 47 minutes. In Brazil, the penalty fits into a lunch break.

Some of the explanations the platforms owe us

• Which commitments made to the Electoral Court did each platform fulfill or break? Why?
• How much did each platform earn from election ads, including irregular ones?
• What filters and blocklists did each chatbot use, and who defined them?
• For each campaign, what were the reach, recommendations and restrictions applied to each profile?

The questions do not presume guilt. They point to what the companies keep confidential and what only an investigation with the power to subpoena data can clarify.

Responses have already begun

The Electoral Court has issued orders and fines against Meta. Federal and electoral prosecutors have taken the company to court. News outlets and civil society organizations such as Artigo 19, Conectas, Sleeping Giants Brasil and CTRL+Z have filed complaints. UN Special Rapporteurs and US lawmakers have also asked for explanations. And we took to the streets: organizations protested outside Meta’s offices in São Paulo under the banner “Meta, stay out of our election”.

A congressional inquiry can make them answer

A congressional inquiry committee (CPI) can subpoena data, question executives and order expert reviews. The request for a Big Tech CPI was filed in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies by Representative Erika Hilton on October 17 and needs 171 signatures. So far, 76 members have signed. The site shows who has signed and, for voters in Brazil, which representatives from each state have not yet signed.

Learn more and share

cpibigtechs.org/#en