The (Superior Electoral Court) arrives in 2026 with a depleted program to combat disinformation.
The court’s dialogue with platforms and civil society has lost strength, and the president of the court, , has stated that he must reduce the removal of content — although recently he has .
Interlocution with organizations and companies marked the disputes in 2020, 2022 and 2024. Sector entities report uncertainty about renewing partnerships to monitor compliance with standards and speed up the exchange of information.
The tendency towards weakening of the initiative has been observed by ministers of the TSE and the (Supreme Federal Court), advisors and people who have worked on the topic at least since the previous administration of the minister. Kassio took over the court on May 12.
HAS Sheet the president of the TSE stated, via advisor, that he chose Frederico Alvim to head the program to combat disinformation and establish new partnerships. He commanded AEED (Special Advisory to Combat Misinformation) when Minister Edson Fachin presided over the court.
Cármen Lúcia’s advisor said that she acted to combat disinformation during her administration by signing cooperation agreements with platforms, maintaining Ciedde (Integrated Center for Combating Disinformation and Defense of Democracy) and improving the reporting channel. The minister also states that she promoted seminars, courses and meetings with judges and Electoral Court employees on the topic.
Ahead of the first presidential elections with massive use of artificial intelligence, Kassio has told interlocutors that he will prioritize educational actions, reducing punishments and removing content. He has already proposed
Another recent measure was the opening of a notice to hire a cyber intelligence company. The court has had the service since 2021, but the contract expired, and Kassio is renewing the tender.
The minister must make the program to combat disinformation less investigative, reduce the court’s police power, a hallmark of the Alexandre de Moraes administration, and focus on content considered more positive. It also defends the right to reply as a more effective measure than removals.
Kassio explains to assistants that taking down publications does not remove material from circulation in messaging applications, for example, which would make them inefficient.
However, the proposal clashes with the court’s consolidated understanding, according to which the right of reply is granted from the moment content is defined as illegal. Ministers and assistants consulted with reservations say that it would be difficult to justify keeping something like this available.
To implement the idea, internal dialogue would be necessary, as assessed, with reservation, by a court minister. To date, however, Kassio has not met with other colleagues or companies in the sector to discuss the issue.
Heard by Sheetpeople linked to the matter express concern about the lack of a plan given the possibility of a profusion of fake news and a return of attacks on the polls and the Electoral Court.
They emphasize that the legislation and resolutions are clear and rigid on the subject, but the action of the TSE, together with external actors, is essential to monitor the application of the rules.
Luis Fakhouri, co-founder of Palver, a social media monitoring and analysis company and columnist for Sheetstates that the ideal would be to combine removal of content, to interrupt the original flow, and the right of reply.
Concern about maintaining channels for dialogue has already been reported by representatives of social networks, who say they have difficulty contacting the court and express fear that this will last until the elections, leading to subsequent charges.
academic and civil society organizations are also unsure whether the partnerships signed in previous years with the Electoral Court will be maintained. It is through them that the TSE is able to monitor the volume of content circulating during the period.
“This collaboration between the court and civil society and academia has been demobilized. The institutional partnership continues to exist, but the specific program in which the court made itself available to listen, to meet, to exchange experiences, we are not seeing”, says Débora Salles, director of Netlab (Laboratory of Social and Network Studies) at UFRJ.
“This worries us, because it is not very clear how the court will be able to monitor all the problems that we have already seen in other elections, and that we are seeing will happen this year”, he adds. “The AI issue puts the problem of election integrity risks on another level.”
HAS Sheet the Kwai platform said it “maintains continuous cooperation with relevant authorities and institutions, following local election guidelines and regulations.” The platform also stated that it had formed a partnership with the TSE this year to expand users’ access to information about the electoral process and encourage the regularization of voter registration.
Asked if there are plans to enter into a partnership with the court, Google said it would not comment at this time. Meta and Tiktok did not respond.
For the 2022 elections, combating the publication of lies about the TSE and its members was one of the focuses of the TSE, at the time commanded by Moraes. That year, the coping strategy was drawn up in April.
The program was designed with three main axes: informing, training and responding. The latter aimed to prevent and suppress disinformation campaigns, such as allegations of electoral fraud. This is the pillar that can be weakened for these elections.
In the second round of elections, Moraes also facilitated the removals by determining that, in the event of replication of a lie already overturned by court decision, the order could be extended without the need for a new process. The then president also set a two-hour deadline for companies to comply.
