The PT asked the (Superior Electoral Court) to remove from the electoral rules under discussion the proposal that provided for the possibility of promoting, on social media, publications that criticize the performance of governments in the pre-term — which would cover President Luiz Inácio da Silva, who is in office and will seek re-election.
According to the party, the current terms of the proposed resolution on electoral propaganda create a potential imbalance in the dispute, since Lula could be criticized with boosted posts, but could not do the same in relation to his opponents.
The suggestion was sent to the TSE as part of the open public consultation to improve the resolutions that will guide the 2026 general ones. The party also made a series of notes to speed up the removal of content suspected of using AI ().
One of the draft TSE resolutions presented in January says that “criticism of the performance of the public administration, carried out by a natural person, does not constitute negative anticipatory electoral propaganda, even if the hiring of promotion occurs, as long as elements related to the electoral dispute are absent”.
The acronym calls for the deletion of this article from the regulatory proposal. According to the letter sent to Minister Nunes Marques, vice-president of the TSE and rapporteur of the draft resolutions, there is no way to dissociate the pre-campaign from the electoral dispute itself.
“Any criticism formulated by a pre-candidate for public management, during this period, is inevitably associated with the upcoming election; otherwise, there would not even be a reason for specific regulation of pre-campaign practices”, justifies the caption.
For the PT, although the boosts comply with formal financial limits, “the fragmentation of these expenses across thousands of pre-candidates results in a significant volume of resources directed exclusively to the disqualification of the management linked to a single pre-candidate.”
Regarding the use of AI, Lula’s party suggests ordering the immediate removal of content suspected of being used “if the existence of minimum elements capable of attesting the organicity of the propaganda is not verified.”
According to the association, the judge must reverse the burden of proof and require the person represented — the candidate whose conduct is being questioned — to present evidence of the authenticity of their content. The party suggests the inclusion of a new device that explains this rule.
The party also calls for the creation of a standard that provides a series of obligations for providers of AI systems, such as the adoption of measures to prevent the use of technology in content that undermines the electoral process or incites violence.
It also requires that these providers can be held responsible “for the damage that such content may cause to the normality of the election, whenever they fail to adopt effective measures to prevent, control or mitigate electoral risks”.
In another point of the suggestions, the PT calls for the implementation of a rule that expressly prohibits the so-called “cutting industry”, a strategy used by the candidate () during the 2022 elections and for which he was condemned to ineligibility.
