Candidates running for Brazil's Senate in the October 2026 elections are using interests such as the Bible, military police officers, agribusiness and the Apple Watch to target ads on Facebook and Instagram. That is the finding of the study "O eleitorado sob medida" ("The tailor-made electorate") by NetLab, the internet and social media research lab at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), reported by g1 based on Meta's Ad Library.

Of the 24 Senate campaigns that used this type of targeting, the 12 classified by the study as opposition to the federal government made 312 interest selections. The 12 grouped in the government's base made 208. Together, the two blocs accounted for 520 selections spread across 294 categories, which the researchers grouped into 13 themes. The split between government base and opposition was made by NetLab based on the candidates' public statements and positions.

The tool lets campaigns ask Meta to show their ads more often to users the platform associates with certain interests, behaviors or demographic profiles. According to g1, this does not mean only the selected audience will see the ad, nor that the interest reflects a real trait of the person. An ad flagged as aimed at users interested in "Apple Watch", for example, only indicates that Meta associated that user with the topic.

Opposition targets varied niches; government base focuses on politics

Among pro-government candidates, targeting concentrated on politics, a theme used by 8 of the 12 campaigns analyzed, and on interests tied to activism, education and organized civil society. The group made no selections in the religion and theology category. The opposition used all 13 macrocategories in the report, with emphasis on agribusiness, militarism, family and consumption. The largest gaps between the two groups were:

• Agribusiness: 59 selections by the opposition, against 14 by the government base;
• Security forces and militarism: 48 by the opposition, against 11 by the base;
• Religion and theology: 31 by the opposition, against none by the base;
• Activism, education and civil society: 10 by the opposition, against 44 by the base;
• Politics: 16 by the opposition, against 36 by the base.

Among opposition candidates, Alexandre Curi (Republicanos-PR) ran the most diversified strategy: he used 12 of the 13 macrocategories and made the most targeting selections. His ads targeted users associated with premium electronics such as the Apple Watch and the MacBook Pro, with merchants, and with people linked to pastors and the Bible. Zequinha Marinho (Podemos-PA) focused on agribusiness and family, with interests such as agriculture, fertilizer, dairy cattle, parenthood, the Bible and patriotism. Bruno Scheid (PL-RO) made 17 selections tied to religion and theology, while Mariana Carvalho (União-RO) made 15 tied to security forces and militarism, such as military police officers.

Débora Salles, NetLab UFRJ's general coordinator, cautions that the opposition's numerical lead does not prove its campaigns are technically superior:

"Although the report presents evidence that opposition candidates used the targeting feature in a more diversified way, it is not possible to say this activity is more sophisticated or more effective. The survey measures the quantity and diversity of the categories selected for audience targeting, but we have no way to gauge the performance of these strategies"

g1 located ads by Vander Loubet and Alexandre Curi in the Ad Library, but Meta only discloses data at the advertiser level, which makes it impossible to link each individual ad to the interests selected by the campaign.

Monitoring is set to gain weight in this election. According to NetLab UFRJ, Meta will be one of only two platforms, alongside Kwai, to formally allow political-electoral advertising in Brazil in 2026. The lab said it will analyze the digital political advertising ecosystem throughout the entire campaign period, up to the October vote.