Brazil’s electoral court sets rules for supporter channels — The Rio Times
Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) unanimously approved rules on October 16, 2026, under which a supporter channel in a messaging app may be legally considered connected to an election campaign. The decision was made a week before the second round of the presidential election, scheduled for October 25, The Rio Times reports.
Criteria for connection to a campaign
The draft ruling was prepared by Justice André Mendonça. Among the indications that a channel is connected to a candidate, the court cited the use of campaign funds or material resources, its technical support, official promotion of the channel, and campaign staff instructions regarding its publications.
These indications do not have to be present simultaneously: one objectively confirmed criterion is sufficient. A channel recognized as connected to a campaign must be registered with electoral authorities; it must also comply with campaigning rules established for the relevant platform. At the same time, spontaneous support from individual voters alone is not sufficient evidence of a connection to an election campaign headquarters.
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Dispute over the WhatsApp channel
The TSE made the decision after conflicting court rulings concerning the WhatsApp channel “Exército do Lula,” administered by federal deputy André Janones of the Rede party. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign complained to the court that the channel was spreading disinformation.
On October 11, 2026, court president Cássio Nunes Marques suspended the channel’s operation. On the same day, electoral ombudsman Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva overturned that decision due to a lack of evidence. On October 13, Nunes Marques again ordered the channel to be suspended unless it was registered. Around October 14, the channel resumed operation, the publication notes.
Separately, on October 15, Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze ordered Meta not to restrict the reach of presidential candidates unevenly. Failure to comply with the ruling carries a fine of 500,000 Brazilian reais per day — about $99,000. President Lula’s campaign stated that Meta’s artificial intelligence tool refused to generate images of the president while accepting requests about Flávio Bolsonaro. The justice found indications of a malfunction in Meta’s control system but did not establish intentional or systematic violations.
