The technical staff of Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) found no false news in the WhatsApp channel "Exército do Lula" (Lula's Army), which the campaign of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) accused of spreading disinformation. The conclusion is in a report by the court's Special Advisory for Combating Disinformation (AEED), commissioned by TSE president Justice Kássio Nunes Marques and released on Monday (12).
The review covered channel posts between October 2 and 11. Flávio's campaign blamed the group, run by congressman-elect André Janones (Rede-MG), for spreading content such as claims that the senator would strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Brazil's patron saint, his alleged ties to Rio de Janeiro militias, and cuts to pensions and to the Bolsa Família cash transfer adjustment.
"Regarding the circulation of identical or substantially equivalent content, no reproductions of the statements examined in the case files were found among the channel's publications in the period from October 2 to 11, 2026", says the report, signed by adviser Frederico Franco Alvim.
The document makes two caveats. Videos were not transcribed because of the urgency of the analysis. And part of the messages posted in September was deleted starting on October 7, which, according to the technical team, hinders reconstruction of the channel's history.
Warning over coordination and reach
Even without locating the cited fake news, the report points to electoral risks. The channel works through daily instructions formatted as "missions" and grew from 55,000 subscribers to 3.3 million followers in six days of mobilization. "The verified elements indicate coordinated, centralized and synchronized action, aimed at expanding the circulation and visibility of content on WhatsApp and other platforms", the document states, without assessing whether the practice is illegal.
The technical team also cites "the recurring use of polarizing language, which tends to establish a logic of confrontation potentially contrary to the condition of elections as a substitute for conflict".
Flávio's campaign responded in a statement and said it will send the TSE a new report with evidence. The text accuses the channel of systematically deleting messages and of using links to evade Electoral Justice oversight. "Janones writes, types, only the command: EXPLODE IT, SHARE IT, and associates the command with media links. The falsehood is in the link, not in the command", the statement says. The campaign also alleges "flagrant non-compliance" with the compliance plan signed between Meta and the TSE.
The dispute began on October 7, when the PL campaign filed an electoral judicial investigation action (AIJE, a procedure used to probe abuse of political or economic power) against the channel. On Sunday (11), Nunes Marques ordered the group's suspension. Hours later, the Electoral Justice's inspector general, Justice Ricardo Villas Bôas Cueva, overturned the order, considering the evidence presented insufficient. President Lula (PT), who is running for reelection, called Nunes Marques's decision "absurd" and said he perceives "many biased decisions against our candidacy".
The report now goes to the TSE presidency and may ground new decisions by Nunes Marques on the channel. Cueva's order, which reinstated the group on the condition that it not spread false content already reviewed by the court, will still be ratified by the court's full bench. Lula and Flávio face off in the October 25 runoff.