Complaint before the OAS

The party of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Wednesday that it will take an accusation of Meta election interference in Brazil to the Organisation of American States, alleging the company is restricting the president's online content and thereby damaging his campaign. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, denies the accusation.

Party Communications Secretary Eden Valadares told reporters that Lula himself ordered the move.

Meta's Brazil office rejected the charges as "simply false" and "not supported by the facts."

What the campaign alleges

The campaign pointed to a series of incidents on Instagram in recent days, according to the party's announcement:

• •Meta prevented Lula's profile from promoting Instagram feed posts, the campaign said.
• •A post from his official account experienced an interruption in view counts, which the campaign said affected its reach.
• •Before last Sunday's first round, in which Flavio Bolsonaro finished first, the profiles of Lula and other leftist leaders suddenly disappeared from Instagram's search function, according to the campaign.

Runoff context and next steps

Lula is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term in an October 25 runoff against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Lula has separately claimed that the United States is trying to interfere in the elections in favor of Flavio Bolsonaro, whose father is an ally of US President Donald Trump.

After the first round, Lula -- who does not use a mobile phone -- launched a social media push that includes videos of him addressing his online followers.

The campaign has called a Thursday meeting with international election observers to discuss the alleged interference.