CBN - September 18, 2024
Irregular ads about Pablo Marçal are circulating on TikTok, paid for by people from outside the country.
NetLab, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, identified political propaganda in Portuguese purchased through accounts registered in European countries such as Portugal, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Luxembourg (Brazil, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg).
One of the hypotheses pointed out by the director of the UFRJ laboratory, Marie Santini, is that the advertiser buys in several countries to circumvent TikTok's moderation in Brazil:
“This is worrying, because it shows that TikTok is, in fact, accepting political ads and they are circulating in defiance of the TSE resolution. And we don't know if these same ads are circulating in Brazil as well. And, in addition to that, we saw third parties buying these ads. So, the registered advertiser is not Marçal's candidacy, it is not his party, nor the candidate himself, but they are third parties that the TSE also prohibits from advertising during the elections. And, even more so, the incentive to ‘make a cut in exchange for money’ that characterizes the purchase of campaign material outside Brazil, which will probably not be declared in the country. So, there are several problems at the same time that can benefit one candidate and detriment of others in an absolutely irregular way.”