Lula Blames Big Tech While Promising a New Police Ministry

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva went on national television Sunday night to accuse the biggest US internet platforms of meddling in Brazil's election, and then, in the same breath, announced a new Ministry of Public Security to be created by decree. One speech. One accusation aimed at corporate power, one plan to build more state power.

The address came on 8 November 2026, two weeks after Lula won a fourth term in the 25 October runoff. "The so-called big techs tried to interfere in the Brazilian electoral process, giving millions of views to content with disinformation and fake news," he said. He added: "The truth beat the lie." Lula named no company. In the passage quoted, he offered no evidence.

Who Has the Power

The platforms in question, by the article's own accounting, are US companies: Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet, Google's parent, and X, formerly Twitter. Lula didn't say which of them he meant. It isn't known what evidence he relies on, or whether any of the companies will respond.

The accusation has a paper trail, though a thin one. On 21 October, Lula's campaign asked the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to strip his rival, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), of his candidacy, alleging Meta's systems favoured Bolsonaro's content. No decision on that request has been found. On election night, 25 October, Lula made a similar charge, saying foreign interference through digital platforms had to be overcome. No court finding that Meta or any other platform interfered in the election has been found.

So the winner of the vote asked a court to disqualify the loser, and when the court hadn't ruled, the winner took the claim to the airwaves.

What They're Calling "Order"

The rest of the address was a tour of institutional fixes. Lula called for political reform. He called for reform of the judiciary, saying Brazilian justice needs to recover its credibility. He said that, with the constitutional amendment on public security approved, he will send a provisional measure, a presidential decree with immediate force, creating a Ministry of Public Security.

A decree with immediate force. That's the mechanism: no floor debate, no waiting. The ministry's job is policing and security, the apparatus that has always been aimed down the social ladder, and it arrives wrapped in a speech about truth and democracy.

He also thanked voters for the more than 64 million votes he said he received, his own figure, and promised to govern for all Brazilians. Brazil should "build bridges instead of walls," he said.

The Reform Trap

The fix on the table for the platforms is legislative. The bill's rapporteur wants Congress to pass Brazil's big tech competition bill by year-end. As of 9 November, no floor date had been set. That means the answer to corporate capture of public conversation runs through the same Congress, the same court system Lula himself says has lost its credibility, and the same election machinery that just produced this dispute.

Millions of people scroll feeds shaped by algorithms they can't see, owned by firms headquartered abroad. The proposed remedy is a bill, a court petition and a new ministry, all of them controlled by institutions those millions don't run. Who decides what counts as disinformation? Whichever authority holds the gavel that week.

The open questions are plain. Which platforms? What evidence? Will the TSE rule on the 21 October request? Will Meta answer? Nobody has said. Meanwhile the decree for the new ministry is coming, and that one doesn't need a ruling from anyone.