The Intercept Brasil - August 22, 2024
A Google ad that redirects to the campaign website of Pablo Marçal, the PRTB candidate for mayor of São Paulo, was paid for by Talita Alves Trindade Vieira, the coach's wife's makeup artist.
The ad is an electoral crime: Brazilian law prohibits third parties from paying for electoral advertising on behalf of a candidate. It is also irregular because Google, in theory, has prohibited political ads since April of this year.
In practice, however, big tech allowed the ad to be boosted – that is, paid for for the post to be seen by more people – which gives Marçal a priority over all other candidates on Google platforms. “The ad comes first. It is programmed so that the algorithm understands that it is more relevant than anything else and delivers it several times,” Marie Santini, director of NetLab at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, told Intercept Brasil.